Comments on: Bing's first month produces small share gain

New data has Microsoft's Bing search engine showing a small rise in market share during the month of June, as the novelty wears off but interest remains.

[monkeyfun14]

You can't take over a market in a month.

I do love how some people assume that if it didn't topple Google within month one that its a failure.

[sciontcya]

Sure you can: iPhone.

[Random_Walk]

Considering the sheer amount of dough spent on advertising, they may want to get more movement than they did... otherwise they're liable to go bankrupt just advertising the thing ;)

[jeromatron]

monkeyfun14:

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.

[T-Guy]

sciontcya: Any data? Last I checked iPhone was around 11%...and that's after more than a month.

[hotmeal117]

'You can't take over a market in a month.'

However, you can ask Google and Yahoo to hold still till they catch up.

[flickrz]

"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."
Please rephrase.

[hotmeal117]

Microsoft needs to ask Google and Yahoo to hold still till they catch up.

[jackdaniels08]

With numerous Google Android phones rolling out in the next couple years, Google Wave and Google Voice among the tweaks and continuous improvements Google makes to it's core and adjoining products among Google's outstanding brand recognition and other surprises to look forward to, Google will do spectacular.

[FutureGuy]

Na they won't if Bing or anyone can take market share from Google, its toast. Google other services are great but not good enough for anyone to pay to use.

[dan46and2]

@FutureGuy: You mean like Google Docs and GMail which corporations already pay for? Google's other services are definitely good enough to pay for. And their products which are currently unpaid (Android) are gaining market share quickly. When you've got market share and good products, it's easy to turn a profit. It doesn't really matter, though, if Google's search engine will be upset, it won't be by Microsoft.

[myles taylor]

@Futureguy. Yea, you're completely right. If Bing can take the market share from Google then it's toast. However, that's about as likely to happen as a manned mission to Mars this year: i.e. it's not going to happen. You can throw all the ifs out there you want; what is Bing going to do that's going to make a massive 78% of the search crowd suddenly switch over to Bing?

[dudesmiles]

does apple run a search engine? if not then who gives a frack cnet! print real news.

[eltoro2827]

my 4 year old daughter writes better than this guy.

[hotmeal117]

But that was 60 years ago.

[BLSCPTS]

I'm using Bing exclusively now.
It's working very well for me.

[JasonCe]

Yes, it works great. I love Bing!

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...

[edispx]

Competition is not good if MS is involved. They will crush it illegally and search will be stuck in dark ages for a while. Think of IE6. No pop-up blockers, no pause for downloads.

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.

[monkeyfun14]

@edispx

90's called they want their argument back.

[dbloyd]

Now Microsoft knows how Apple feels when they make those baby steps forward. I wouldn't mind if Microsoft ruled the search market if they let go of the desktop market. Windows was good back in the 90's but it is time to let it die.

[empirestatebuddy]

Microsoft/Bing is a long way off from catching Google, but much closer to Yahoo--only about 2.5 pts separate them (depending on who's measuring, of course). If Bing can catch Yahoo in the next couple of years, I'd say that that'd be quite an accomplishment and might make a Yahoo deal more likely and more affordable.

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.

[giant_david]

I tested Bing, It has improved over Live or whatever was that poor .net application.

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.

[naterandrews]

Just what exactly is a Decision Engine?

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.

[jessiethe3rd]

I like how you copy cut paste your previous response - offering very little about the actual story here. Regardless - Google still is in the business to sell your information while Microsoft is in the business to sell software. Your privacy is not Google's concern - an open internet with the ability to push more spam, targeted marketing, and products is what they are in the business for.

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.

[OkieDonnie]

I love Bing. The map features are great. Seems like a lot of MS haters here. Competition is what it's all about Nate Andrews.
BTW your tin foil hat is crooked...

[oldsecurityguy]

Microsoft hater opinion: Bing is mediocre, but that's to be expected from Redmond. If MS gets a strong hold on the web it will be a sad day. If they were to gain monopoly control, you would only be able to do most things using IE on a Windows machine.

You can make fun of Google's 'don't be evil' motto, but Microsoft has a track record of being evil.

[monkeyfun14]

When have they been evil exactly?

I could say IBM has a track record of being evil. They used holocaust labors in the 40's

[Michichael]

Looking for a shoddy re-skinned search engine that 99% of users think is the address bar since it's the default page and type "Google" into it to get to an engine that doesn't suck? Bing! You found it!

[elllroy]

i don't get it: they burn billions year over year in their online and entertainment division. if i had a big stake in microsoft (like lots of funds and pensions) i would demand that they had closed theses divisons a long time ago. the next hundred million bucks they will spend will be on the zune hd marekting. we already know how this will pan out. it will reduce ipod marketshare from 76,4% to 75,9%.

[loose_screw]

It's funny how Google and Microsoft are in reverse positions as far as search and browsers are concerned. I predict Bing and Chrome will continue to gain in popularity, while Google search and IE will see declines.

I don't see Bing every overtaking Google. For my needs, Google simply performs better.

[YankeePoodle]

Bing just works fine probably except for News.

[martin1212]

Note that the numbers are US market share, not worldwide. Strange that the article makes no mention whatsoever of this fact. I wonder what the worldwide numbers are?

[martin1212]

To answer my own question, it looks like Bing is not having much impact when looking at worldwide numbers:

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.

[korbycon1]

Im proud to say that I use Google chrome as my primary web browser, with Bing set as my default search engine. Personally, I enjoy using Bing, especially for its mapping capabilities. It also works great when used on a mobile device to help find out information like movie times and the weather forecast. Granted, you could find these things out already through several other portals, but I have just found m.bing.com convenient.

[todd3617]

I haven't tried bing yet. I'm sticking with google.

[NWLB]

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.

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.