Web giants mull taskbar
Published: 12 Jan 2004 15:40 GMT
Microsoft plans to make search a greater part of its Internet applications. Microsoft product manager Lisa Gurry said last week that the software giant plans to introduce new search technology this year, which will be featured in the Windows Media Player, for example.
She added that a desktop search application is an "interesting area of development and is something Microsoft is looking at." She indicated that the company would have news in two months related to the technology.
Digging for dollars
Search is an attractive business opportunity for application makers. When people conduct a search, they often will see a list of free and sponsored search results. Application makers make money from advertisers each time someone clicks on a paid link. Revenue from paid search buoyed online advertising last year, growing by more than 25 percent to $1.6bn (£0.87bn). Many Internet service providers and application makers want to take advantage of the expected growth in 2004 to $2bn by giving people new ways to search and advertisers new ways to reach customers.
Google, Yahoo and others are eager to protect their stranglehold on the Web market, by expanding their tools in other applications. Google, for example, has a deal with Apple Computer to be the default search provider within its Safari browser, and the company has forged multiple partnerships in the mobile phone market.
If the companies don't develop new applications, they risk losing out.
"Search, especially shopping search technology, is becoming extremely important in the online commerce world," said Abha Bhagat, senior analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings. "As more consumers begin their shopping through search engines or portals, they do risk losing users, if they don't have this type of integration."
EarthLink, the third largest ISP, is looking at desktop and toolbar search as a way to help it stand out in its fiercely competitive market. It has talked to all the desktop search providers about a partnership to offer such a service to subscribers, according to Mecredy. Without EarthLink naming names, those providers could include Google, Yahoo, advertising-software maker WhenU, and search technology providers Groxis and Dave's Quick Search Deskbar.
"We have plans to launch something along this line this year," Mecredy said.
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