Windows Live Search to be rebranded Kumo?

Microsoft is expected to rebrand and relaunch its Windows Live Search, according to various reports.

There have been tremors on the Web that Microsoft was considering a new brand name for Live Search, and now the site LiveSide is reporting that Microsoft has taken control of the domain name Kumo.com and is directing internal traffic to it as a test site.

The rebranded site is expected to launch early next year, according to a TechCrunch report that cited a source within the company. Very few people in the company are privy to the chosen name of the new brand, and it could still change, TechCrunch said.

And while this doesn't mean that Microsoft is definitely going to adopt Kumo as its new search brand, taken together, it's pretty clear evidence that Microsoft has decided to focus on revitalizing its own search effort over its former ambitions for Yahoo's search business.

Microsoft's recent move to acquire Yahoo search talent is another sign that it is beefing up its own search muscle. Microsoft confirmed on Thursday that it had hired Yahoo search executive Sean Suchter to be general manager of its Silicon Valley Search Technology Center, "working on Live Search."

Kumo--a Japanese word that means "cloud" or "spider"--is certainly sexier than Windows Live Search, but is it enough to jump-start Microsoft's search effort?

[jumpjetta]

A turd by any other name would still smell as foul.

[Alex Alexzander]

I like Live Search. And I'd personally stick with the brand. There are a lot of services branded as Live. Why not continue to build on that.

Alex Alexzander

[jessiethe3rd]

I'm using Live - it's actually not too bad - not perfect all the time but pretty good.

[Hep Cat]

Koo-moe?

Nice.

[QASIMARA]

Tag!

[QASIMARA]

... you're IT!@

[kid625]

Kumo means "Cloud" in Japanese. I wonder if that means anything...

[TechWire]

I see the name "Kumo" as a sign that Microsoft is moving into the age of cloud computing.
Personally, I don't like the idea of cloud computing. With cloud computing, that brings into the picture many security holes, which we all know Microsoft is good at creating. Also, all the computers would be dependent on the uptime of the servers, you never know when the might go down.

[iertry]

Why would they do this? The reason it is called live search is because the rest of their internet software+services has the live brand. Why would they change the branding of the key internet component? I don;t think they understand that a name change won't fix things. People don;t use it because it gives bad search results compared to Google and even Yahoo!.

[canberra_photographer]

In oz, Kumo is a brand of assisted learning centres for kids who struggle to learn. Seems fitting for Microsoft and indeed anyone who used Live search.

[Hep Cat]

The same chain is here in the U.S. as well - Kumon. As in "Kum on, why don't you learn!"

It appears Microsoft is grasping at straws with this move to re-brand live search. Is live really such a failure as to warrant a completely new relaunch?

[Sumatra-Bosch]

A failure? Oh, yes, have you heard? They pay people to use it. Like having a newspaper hawker giving everyone a dollar who takes the paper to work with them. You don't get much more failed than that. Maybe they should change the name to:

ZEARCH

[Super2online]

I think it's way to early to be speculating about what Microsoft may be doing with Live Search. Your most likely going to be dead wrong, making yourself look bad. So you have to ask yourself, if that's all I'm going to accomplish, what was the point?

[Penguinisto]

Whatever they decide to do, constant re-branding isn't the way to go. The idea is to build on the existing name, not cast it aside and continually confuse the customers...

It'd be like Google suddenly coming out and renaming themselves after other numbers (Giga, Pico, whatever) every other year.

[CrashPad63]

WEll for all you nay sayers and just plain troll bait. You do realize that for every 1% of market in the online search arena equals 1 billion dollars. Check out the Leo Laporte Windows weekly podcast for futher info.
So even at their small what 8% that is 8billion in the coffers. Now if they can grab even more with a better product and a refresh of the name so be it.
The rest of you stop speculating and do some research.
And to Penguine this is the most lucid, well thought out post Ive witnessed from you.

[Nik00]

I think this is an excellent move. I was recently thinking of a few re-branding ideas for ?live? search myself (nb. I don?t work for MS, I just find business concepts interesting). The main problem with the ?Live? branding lies partly in its dual identity: Live can mean online (net term), to be alive, to reside or even to experience life .etc

Which certainly doesn?t help the brand stand out in a conversation or cement its identity. Microsoft marketing has tried somewhat to overcome this by pasting the companies name in front of all their service offerings, so now rather than calling their search offering ?Live!? they have to use ?Microsoft Live Search?, ?Microsoft Live Mail? .etc which is a mouth full compared to existing brands.

If Microsoft can unite its offerings under one strong brand e.g. ?Kumo? without cluttering the title with ?Microsoft? or "windows" as they did years ago with their Expedia travel site (before they sold it) they could have a real chance at building a strong brand.

Nb. Changing the name isn?t enough of course, but hopefully with a new name can come an entire re-branding under a new common logo and a concise unified look and feel for all their search, mail and online services under one roof as compared to the msn, hotmail, live, passport .etc mess they have at the moment.

[renGek]

Live Search came preinstalled on my cell phone. I actually love it because I don't have to key anything in for searching. Its all voice activated and responds very well. Initially I didn't use it for the first couple of weeks because I just assumed its bad since its from m.s. but lo and behold its been great. Google's mobile search didn't have that until recently so I've been sticking to live search.

[t8]

Microsoft is famous for copying others.
AOL = MSN
Google = Live
MySpace= Spaces
iPod =Zune
Qualtiy and/or innovation = Cheap knock off from Microsoft
To Microsoft: Invent something new.

[QASIMARA]

Detroit used to say that about the Japanese when talking about automobiles.

[t8]

Yeah but Windows still crashes a few times a week, and my auto doesn't.

[Dalkorian]

This is how M$ "innovates". Fista getting a well deserved bad rap? Rename it "windows 7" and promise it for next year. Live Search getting a well deserved bad rap? Rename it "kumo" and promise it for next year. See the pattern yet?

[timster799]

What's wrong with Live Search? How about the way results look-- large cobalt blue font on a stark white page is hard on the eyes.