Bing's first month produces small share gain
Bing picked up half a percentage point of market share in June.
(Credit: Screenshot by Tom Krazit/CNET)Bing took a baby step up the search engine ladder in its first month on the Internet.
Microsoft's share of the search market increased from 7.81 percent prior to the launch of Bing to 8.23 percent for the month of June, according to data from Statcounter picked up by Reuters. Bing got a noticeable bounce during the first few weeks of June, but settled back after the novelty wore off.
Google's share dropped ever so slightly, from a dominant 78.72 percent of the search market in May to a perilously shaky 78.48 percent of the market in June, a drop attributed by more than a few news outlets to Bing's success but one unlikely to cause too much concern in Mountain View. Statcounter was a lone voice suggesting that Bing surpassed Yahoo during its first week of existence, but now reports that Yahoo actually gained share during June in maintaining its second-place position, up from 10.99 percent in May to 11.04 percent in June.
The changes may look small, but all Microsoft ever wanted out of the Bing relaunch was a few percentage points' worth of extra market share, according to executives. One month does not a comeback make, however, and tweaks to both Google and Yahoo's core search products are expected over the rest of the year.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
I do love how some people assume that if it didn't topple Google within month one that its a failure.
I think what he was saying was more in response to all of the hubbub a few days after bing's re-branding saying how much share it had gained in just a few days - which is even more short-sighted.
However, you can ask Google and Yahoo to hold still till they catch up.
Please rephrase.
It's working very well for me.
People forget the fact that 1% increase is huge if you had just 8%. %1 market share increase means Bing increased their market share by 12.5%. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I expect Bing to keep increasing their market share by %1 every month and they will surpass Yahoo by the end of the year.
Switch to Bing people, competition is good...
I have tested Bing out of curiosity. I wouldn't switch unless bing was substantially better. However, google gave me better results for the same queries.
90's called they want their argument back.
I'm using Bing 90% of the time for my searches, but it still needs a better News section (so I often use Google for News headlines) and Bing also needs a mail client. Basically, it needs to give people a reason to go to Bing.com aside from just search... just like Google and Yahoo do.
But Google is still better. The results are more consistent and we are used to it. Even Yahoo is better that Bing : what a bad name, it reminds something weak : bing... Sould be Booom!
Microsoft is tasting its own poison. Its dominance in the OS market is kept for the same reason it can't take over Google : users habits inertia.
Also, M$ is late. It took Google to grow giant to Ms come with something close to decent.
OS and Search engines : boths fights worth watching in our lifetime.
If we are to take anything from Microsoft and their intentions, Bing is great for making informed decisions about purchases. Now, I don't know about you, but I am not buying a camera on a regular basis; nor am I using Bing Travel to jet set to my next destination. Bing is relegated to a purchase and shopping engine- seems like a small admission of defeat to me.
Despite the fact that, as the masters in Redmond would like to have you believe, that we are all experiencing search overload, Bing unfortunately does not bring anything revolutionary to the table. Since evolving (read: rebranding) from MSN to Windows Live Search to simply, Live Search- Bing still feels like the same stale experience we can come to expect from Microsoft. Of course the results have become slightly better over the years, as can be expected, we simply have yet to be wowed by Bing. Some features are simply recycled from previous incarnations, CashBack for example. Through the massive ~$100m spending spree, Ballmer would like us to believe however, that Bing is a wholly new experience from Microsoft; and while some may have taken the bait because of curiosity, I doubt many will become permanent switchers.
After pouring an endless amount of money and time into search, Microsoft simply cannot afford to let "good enough" be the metric on which their service can be based off of. It is truly sad to see that Microsoft thinks they can market their way to a better product (or even bribe their way- clubbing.com); and with their television ads proudly proclaiming that Bing cuts the search clutter, the "search overload" (seriously? Who searches "cell phone" without knowing what they want, let alone their carrier support? Heck, even "mom", like on the TV spot.. horrible ads to be sure..), leave much to be desired.
The point of the matter is, Google is the standard when it comes to searching. Whether it is the standard because of great results, their sheer size in the market, or their massive brand loyalty, Google IS the leader- and simply rehashing (albiet with slight tweaks) a poor product will not change the game.
So, what we have now is a Shopping Decision Engine, that caters to those that want to shop online and secondly offers an uninspiring web search.
P.S., for those that argue Microsoft needs to challenge the Google "monopoly" and are quick to point out how "evil" Google is- Microsoft has two monopolies, and look what they've been doing with THOSE. You seriously want one monopolist that drives out competition once they have power, or one that holds a monopoly but still doesn't stick it to their users? Mark my words, if Microsoft ever gets a monopoly on online services (search, ads, etc.) they will rape it much worse than anyone else could possibly ever do.
Google may be the standard on search but Microsoft is the standard for office productivity applications and operating system. The companies are at war - they are competing against each other - consumers gain by using both tools - it forces one company to evolve.
BTW your tin foil hat is crooked...
You can make fun of Google's 'don't be evil' motto, but Microsoft has a track record of being evil.
I could say IBM has a track record of being evil. They used holocaust labors in the 40's
I don't see Bing every overtaking Google. For my needs, Google simply performs better.
http://vista.blorge.com/2009/07/01/bing-steals-google-market-share-but-its-petty-theft/
So the real news is no news at all.
- by NWLB July 2, 2009 11:45 AM PDT
- I saw a influx of hits to my sites and those which I design and run for others, from Bing. And that has generally evaporated. Likewise, the MSN and Yahoo related hits were about as what you would expect from what was noted in the article.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (39 Comments)But you also have to factor into the mix, those commercial outlets, like Verizon Wireless, who switched the search engine on their phones to Bing. Sure, people are interested, but are they actually doing anything different? I suspect not. It is only a number of changes in commercial hooks, and the rush to a new thing. In the end, unless Bing has the email, IM, and portal hooks Yahoo does, I'm not sure they do much more than trade users.
Niche engines are the only viable route to success. Bing and Yahoo aren't about winning, they are about waiting to see if Google ever jumps the shark.