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Microsoft Dumping Bing?

19 points| narad | 14 years ago |pcmag.com

27 comments

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[+] vasco|14 years ago|reply
"This forces Google to adjust all of its strategies to counter this threat. In so doing, Google must take its eye off the Android ball, allowing the Microsoft's Windows Phone and tablet initiative to catch up to Android."

It seems like the author believes Google is a two person company which cannot compete on several fronts.

[+] ticks|14 years ago|reply
I find it odd how people think of businesses as one big entity that knows all, when in reality its loads of small teams, contractors, freelancers etc. sort-of working together. You get that complaint a lot from people who criticize broadcasters in particular.
[+] buu700|14 years ago|reply
No, I'm pretty sure Google would need to move the entire Android team to Search if it wanted to compete with a Facebook-owned Bing.
[+] tybris|14 years ago|reply
I think the world record in questionable speculation was broken here.
[+] andrewfelix|14 years ago|reply
Why would anyone pay for Bing? It costs MSFT almost a billion a quarter and has around 4% market share.
[+] bad_user|14 years ago|reply

     From the TFA: "hooking Yahoo, Bing, and Facebook"
I can't possibly see what good can come out of that for Facebook.

Bing could be matched with Facebook, in the same way Google+ is now linked with Google's search results. However the problem is that Google's Search is a near monopoly and it would be bad for Facebook to invest too much into this ... you don't defeat a company like Google by attacking it head on (Microsoft style), instead you are better off making it obsolete. Such a union would distract Facebook from improving things that actually matter, giving Google+ time to catch up.

And hooking Yahoo with Facebook would not be in Facebook's best interests. Facebook needs to popularize its own distribution channels for news, its own online email service, its own instant messanger, its own photo sharing services. At this stage they are powerful enough to pass on cooperation and instead prefer to lock-in their existing user base, which is growing like crazy anyway.

What Facebook must really do to survive Google is to do something about that shitty mobile app. Google is winning the distribution channels on mobiles because of Android, their search engine is the default on all smartphones, Google Maps too, Gmail is more and more popular ... so Facebook can't afford to not be in this game, because I don't have trouble seeing Google+ as the default on smartphones.

[+] hboon|14 years ago|reply
Bing (search engine) + Facebook's demographic targeting sounds formidable to me actually.
[+] taligent|14 years ago|reply
Few things need addressing here:

- Google is the one that needs to survive Facebook. Not the other way around. Right now Facebook has the more compelling advertising platform that they are only starting to use (see: mobile). If companies do start moving money across it could do some immediate damage to Google's bottom line.

- Google Maps is going to have a rocky road ahead if Apple does plan to release iMaps for iOS 6. And given the talent Apple acquired it could be something special.

- Google+ will never be the default on iPhone. Twitter is. Facebook will be.

The problem for Google is that they have made enemies of Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook. Not a good situation to be in.

[+] bawllz|14 years ago|reply
Funny that searching bing for any of the articles pertaining to this attempted sale comes up with nothing. Prove me wrong?
[+] gouranga|14 years ago|reply
"Tried" to dump Bing.

If they succeed, I wonder how this will affect DuckDuckGo as I understand they source a lot of information via Bing.

[+] read_wharf|14 years ago|reply
This was my immediate (and only) concern.
[+] meric|14 years ago|reply
Facebook buying Bing to fight against Google Search would be like buying a gunboat to fight a destroyer.
[+] _hnwo|14 years ago|reply
related to zerg-rush, perhaps?