Stan Beer
Monday, 06 October 2008 06:43
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One can look at the perceived success of the Cashback program in two ways.
As Ms Dougherty points out, on the bright side of
things, Microsoft has managed to hold its Live Search market share
steady.
However, taking a more stark view of Microsoft's position in the search
space, if the best the company can achieve by bribing users with real
currency is to stem further bleeding, then the prognosis for the future
of search at Microsoft looks bleak. This is especially the case given
the trying economic times in the US.
And what of Yahoo!?
The second placed search player is haemorrhaging market share badly and
may well be rueing its decision to turn down Microsoft's US$40 billion
take-over bid.
As it stands, Yahoo! seems destined before too long to join Microsoft
as a bit player in the search space with a single digit market share.
Interestingly, a search company that appears to bubbling along
unperturbed by the ructions in this space is Ask. According to Hitwise
figures, the California-based company has managed to increase its
market share from 3.5% to 3.6% in the past quarter, incredibly making
it a serious rival to Microsoft to become the number three market
player.