Is Microsoft’s Bing a Google Killer?
Recently we have had Wolfram Alpha offering a comprehensive “computational” knowledge engine and Google Squared promising a simple way of pulling organised data from websites into a spreadsheet style format.
Now last week we have seen Microsoft’s Live Search engine evolve into what they are now calling their decision engine. Originally code-named Kumo and supported by Microsoft’s hefty marketing muscle, Bing has been launched.
After I got the reference to Chandler Bing from Friends out of my head and started to take this new search engine seriously, I started to realised that maybe we finally do have a contender to take on the search behemoth that is Google.
In its new advertising drive to promote Bing, Microsoft are promoting the fact that search is broken and that people are now suffering from search overload. The answer to this problem is not another search engine but Microsoft’s “decision” engine.
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The first thing you’ll notice when you visit Bing is the lavish homepage. Bing displays a beautiful image of what appears to be a pristine shoreline peppered with small white yachts. Microsoft claims that Bing will deliver a more functional experience than any other search engine and will help you make smarter and faster decisions. The search results appear to be effective and accurate with related searches displayed on a left sidebar. One cool feature that Bing has are thumbnails of results for video searches which instantly play when you hover over them. This facility shows what can be done with modern browsers and fast networks.
Its impact on the search market has also started to become apparent. According to data issued by StatCounter, Bing has already grabbed 16.28 percent of the US search engine market meaning it has out performed Yahoo who came in third with 10.22 percent. Google still dominates this market with a 71.47 percent share. In the worldwide search engine market, Bing is also holding its own. Bing grabbed 5.62 percent of the market, squeaking past Yahoo, which has 5.13 percent. Google still dominate with 87.62 percent.
Regardless of how good Bing looks and how impressive its market share has become, I really do think the idea that search is broken and that people are suffering from search overload seems to be wishful thinking on Microsoft’s part or have Microsoft now built a real contender – a Google killer?
Realistically even if Bing gets it right and does offer a solid and reliable search product, the barriers to success posed by the search mammoth Google are enormous. Success is by no means guaranteed. Humans are creatures of habit and with Google’s dominance of the search market for the last 10 years; it will be a hard habit to break.
But never say never!! Google must have an Achilles heel? Bing may be able to succeed not through offering a better search engine (sorry I meant “decision” engine) than Google but by making money for other people. Google’s advertising programmes – Adwords and Adsense – have helped fuel its growth in the past. If Microsoft can find ways to generate advertising income via Bing for others then it may be able to have a great crack at taking more of Google’s controlling market share. Only time will answer this question, but new blood in the search market can only be a good thing for everyone!
