Google's hiring spree continues

Google has hired Amazon search chief Udi Manber, according to a report from the Associated Press. Manber, who headed up the e-commerce company's A9 division, will become a vice president of engineering at Google, the AP said.

The search giant and Wall Street wunderkind has been snapping up talent from all over the tech world, hiring Internet pioneer Vint Cerf from MCI and Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee, among others.

Bloggers wondered whether anything could stop Google's march to dominate the search world and pondered what the loss of Manber means for Amazon's growing search business (hint--not good).

Blog community response:

"PS - How long do you think John Doerr can remain on the boards of both Amazon and Google?"
--John Battelle's Searchblog

"A9, while not exactly threatening the big 5 search engines, has gotten great press (and accolades from myself) for innovations on interface and leadership in collaboration with other search engines as part of the OpenSearch program, and I'm sure the loss of Udi will hurt."
--InsideGoogle

"While the transfer is a nice gain for Google, is must be a severe hit to Amazon. It has never been clear what the retailer wanted to do in the online search space, and now it is starting to look like the company is getting ready to exit this business at last."
--Silicon Valley Sleuth