The news that Microsoft had their monumental offer for Yahoo! turned down has been received with resignation by the acting head of Microsoft’s online services group in the UK; Chris Dobson. The spokesman stated that Microsoft were ‘a long way from where they needed to be’ but that they would continue ‘chipping’ away at Google for a share of the internet search market.
Microsoft are resigned to building up their search share slowly over time and have recognized that there is no quick fix. In a speech announcing a major overhaul of features on Microsoft Live Search Dobson stated that it was in the search game ‘for the long haul’ and that it will focus efforts to increase the level of services to encourage more customers. Dobson also noted that there was ‘no killer application which will mean we have a 30 percent share overnight’. But he has said that Microsoft would do ‘everything it could’ to compete.
Microsoft have bolstered their online services and will boast a greater number of images on search results as well as maps, location based features and a new feature called Celebrity xRank. The celebrity xRank will deliver results on the popularity of celebrities in relation to the number of times they are searched for.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has had his eye on the online advertising business for a while and has said that he wants it to be a $10 billion business for Microsoft. As a result of the acquisition of aQuantive and a share in Facebook the computer giant would appear to be approaching a user specific form of search where marketers can push their products or services to specific search demographics. It remains to be seen if it will catch on.
Related posts: