Microsoft Courier Gets Demonstrated More Fully, Limitations Suggested: "
Of course, with an internet connection and full-color touchscreen, much more is enabled and the device becomes much more complicated. Microsoft's (and Pioneer's) task has been to pare that down to a product, and it really looks like they've done it right. Still all renders, though.
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Modest Share Gains for Bing Continue: "
Comscore's monthly ratings are out and Bing continues a slow but steady gain in share, to the slight expense of Google and Yahoo. Bing has a massive marketing push on right now, but also, I think the service is starting to gain footholds with users who see it as a regular alternative to Google. I am also a fan of the recently unveiled visual search interface - I think it augurs some serious new - and useful - approaches to sifting through massive amounts of related data.
From the Thomas Weisel's analyst coverage, sent to me in mail:
Google maintains dominance within 'core search' but Bing Nudges Up m/m at Yahoo's and Google's Expense: Core search excludes searches conducted on video, local and map portions of the companies' websites. Google's U.S. query share of core search queries was down 11bps m/m to 64.6% in August but increased nearly 1.3 percentage points from August 2008. Yahoo's share was flat m/m at 19.3% in August and decreased 39bps y/y. Microsoft's share increased 35bps m/m to 9.3% in August and up 89bps y/y. Ask.com's share were was flat m/m at 3.9% in August but decreased 45bps y/y. AOL's share decreased 14bps m/m to 3.0% in August and decreased 133bps y/y.
Our take: Google continues to dominate audience market rankings in the U.S. while Microsoft has shown some signs of stabilization and a modest uptick with the launch of Bing in June. Yahoo, while having shown signs of stability over the past 12-18 months, has recently started to lose market share again, declining from 21.0% in January to 19.3% in August. Taken together, Yahoo and Microsoft represent 29% of the core search market in the U.S., flat with the previous month. Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, was launched at the beginning of June alongside an $80-100mn advertising campaign. This is the third month of data reflecting Bing's impact. While the data indicates a very modest near-term bounce, we will be watching closely to see if any query pickup is sustainable.
RETAIL WAR: Microsoft Cherry Picking Apple Store Employees: "
The blog is reporting that anonymous sources have confirmed that Microsoft is reaching out to Apple retail store managers and offering them “significant raises,” and sometimes even moving expenses.
But it doesn’t stop there. According to the sources, the cherry-picked Apple employees, once hired, are “then contacting some of the top sales people in the Apple retail organization offering them positions at Microsoft retail.”
If rumors are to be believed, now everything from the store design to the Guru Bars, and the actual staffers is being plucked by Microsoft in an effort to compete in the retail space. The question remains if these aggressive tactics will pay off. We tend think that consumers will buy the better products, and so far, Apple’s unique approach to retail has been successful. Can Microsoft follow suit?
Tags: Apple Store, microsoft
Bing Launches Visual Search: "
Looking like something coming from Apple’s labs, Visual Search presents you with a grid of images, making it easy to find exactly what you need without having to know its exact name.
It works great when, for example, you’re shopping for gadgets or looking for a famous person whose name you just cannot remember. You can also start by browsing; for example, the Visual Search lets you visualize MLB players, after which you can filter them out by their earnings and various game stats.
The feature is powered by Silverlight, and the content for Visual Search is provided by several sources, one of them being MSN. The transitions look quite cool; I’d prefer a black over white background, but that’s a matter of personal preference. The layout may look too busy at first, with 50 images shown in the grid, but it’s actually not that hard for the brain to find the right image when you know what you’re looking for.
You’ve got to hand it to Microsoft, after switching from Live Search to Bing (and doing relatively well with it), they’ve been steadily introducing new features, focusing on the ones that their biggest competitor – Google – is lacking. Visual Search might not revolutionize search and make users suddenly start switching from Google to Bing, but it’s another piece of the puzzle that makes Bing competitive in the search game.
You can check this new feature out at Bing.com/visualsearch.
Tags: bing, visual search
Court of Appeals stays injunction against Microsoft Word: "
Critics of Davis’ injunction complained that Tyler, Texas, where Leonard presides, is the patent troll capital of North America. “Plaintiffs tend to win big judgments there, and the surrounding vicinity, against companies like Microsoft,” Betanews writer Joe Wilcox said at the time.
Today, the Seattle PI reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has granted Microsoft’s motion to stay the injunction.
Neither Microsoft nor i4i have responded to requests for comment yet. I’ll update this post if they do.
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