Assuming that Yahoo handing search over to Bing will result in 30% market share for Bing neglects to account for people who will just switch to Google. Many people who use Yahoo for the other services they provide will stick around, but those who use Yahoo purely as a search destination could jump ship.
As for the Google vs. Bing search experience, each offers pretty decent results, for the power user Google is still more robust, but for Joe Blow consumer either will do.
The hook to getting people loyal to your search is in the offered web services that are attached to your brand. It starts with a Gmail account, then you link it to your Youtube and Picassa accounts, next thing you know you are using Google Docs to share a project, before you know it, you are married to Google.
If Bing/Yahoo want to tear into Google's lions share, that is where they have to beat them. Yahoo has some compelling services, so does Microsoft. They will need to combine it into a compelling web service package that people will want to try. Trouble is, the longer they wait, the more invested people become in their Google services relationships, and the divorce becomes more complicated with each passing day.
If this new venture is going to get me to leave google, ultimately its not going to be about offering search that is mildly better, its going to be about their web services package, if they win there then it might be worth the pain for me to phase out my Google services. Once they have you for their services, you will use their search.
It starts with a Gmail account, then you link it to your Youtube and Picassa accounts, next thing you know you are using Google Docs to share a project, before you know it, you are married to Google.
Never really thought about it but that does seem to be how I got involved with Google.
Anyhow, I think the merge of these two companies will mark the dawn of the super giants. Who is there that can compete with this?
Yahoo/Microsoft vs Google.
Hate to say it but maybe it would be nice to see Apple to contribute their own addition worthy of the scale these two beasts have.
Thrax
🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
Comments
The hook to getting people loyal to your search is in the offered web services that are attached to your brand. It starts with a Gmail account, then you link it to your Youtube and Picassa accounts, next thing you know you are using Google Docs to share a project, before you know it, you are married to Google.
If Bing/Yahoo want to tear into Google's lions share, that is where they have to beat them. Yahoo has some compelling services, so does Microsoft. They will need to combine it into a compelling web service package that people will want to try. Trouble is, the longer they wait, the more invested people become in their Google services relationships, and the divorce becomes more complicated with each passing day.
If this new venture is going to get me to leave google, ultimately its not going to be about offering search that is mildly better, its going to be about their web services package, if they win there then it might be worth the pain for me to phase out my Google services. Once they have you for their services, you will use their search.
Never really thought about it but that does seem to be how I got involved with Google.
Anyhow, I think the merge of these two companies will mark the dawn of the super giants. Who is there that can compete with this?
Yahoo/Microsoft vs Google.
Hate to say it but maybe it would be nice to see Apple to contribute their own addition worthy of the scale these two beasts have.