Microslump: If Search Data Are Accurate, Bad News for Microsoft
August 20, 2008
Statistics are malleable. Data about online usage are not just malleable, they are diaphanous. Silicon Valley Insider reported Web search market share data at Silicon Alley Insider here. The article by Michael Learmonth was “Google Takes 60% of Search Market, While MSN Loses Share.” The highlight of the write up is a chart, which I am reluctant to reproduce. I can, I believe, quote one statement that struck me as particularly important; namely:
MSN, which lost more than two percentage points of market share from month to month, going from 14.1% of searches to 11.9%. So if Microsoft’s “Cashback” search engine shopping gimmick actually helped boost search share in May and June, its impact seems to be dropping.
The data come from Nielsen Online, specifically the cleverly named MegaView Search report. Wow, after pumping big money into data centers, buying Fast Search & Transfer and Powerset, and ramping up search research and development, the data suggest that:
- A desktop monopoly doesn’t matter in search
- Microsoft’s billions don’t matter in search
- Aggressive marketing such as the forced download for the Olympic content doesn’t matter.
Google is like one of those weird quantum functions that defy comprehension. What else must Redmond do? Send me your ideas for closing the gap between Microsoft and Google.
Stephen Arnold, August 20, 2008
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To beat Google they will need to first:
buy Answers.com specifically for WikiAnswers
hire 15,000 editors to work around the clock answering and editing questions to create the ultimate Q&A database
integrate that into their current search + Powerset to create the ultimate 1 stop shop for answers to most any query
Second and most important…convince GW Bush to enact a law giving him the CEO role from Schmidt at Google once his term is up.
From there MSFT will be the clear winner.
[...] company is paying users, and it is still losing market share. Read my short post on this subject here. Even if the data are off by an order of magnitude, Microsoft is not making headway in the Web [...]