Top search engines make plans to expand reach and popularity

As of today, there are five major search engines namely, Google, AOL, Yahoo!, Ask and Microsoft. Amongst them, AOL uses the same algorithm as Google, hence display almost identical results. This effectively gets the number down to four. However, all top and even some middle-rung players, as can be gauged from recent media reports, are striving to move up the ladder. This is likely to change the scenario a lot, and may well reshuffle the pack, with the only exception of course being Google!

For example, Ask had announced some time back it would be modifying itself to grab the niche market share that it already has control of. The biggest of them all Google, the diminishing giant Yahoo!, and the ambitious Microsoft, keen on taking over it, are also devising their own strategies. This is a situation worth following and analysing. If Microsoft is to take over Yahoo!, it would leave only two major players- Google and Microsoft (with Yahoo! acquired). Although it is largely believed that Microsoft will change to use the Yahoo! algorithm since it is considered, generally, to be better.

Although it will also mean that there is greater scope for a few other relatively smaller players who can sustain and survive the intense competition from online search giants with new technology/better algorithms.

Internet’s biggest names take sides in the Microsoft-Yahoo! battle

Microsoft’s efforts to take over Yahoo! have already taken a series of twists. Now, it’s getting more complex with the possibility of the Internet’s biggest names joining either side. Microsoft is rumoured to be on the verge of striking a collaboration with News Corp. and Yahoo!, on other hand, is hoping for assistance from Google and AOL.

Yahoo! is rather struggling to strengthen itself in the face of sustained pressure from Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, which started with a surprise unsolicited £22bn approach a couple of months ago.

The Silicon Valley firm is reported to be working out a deal with Time Warner that would result in the AOL brand getting combined with Yahoo!, giving it a vital cash injection and letting it to buy back its own stock for protecting it against a hostile takeover. Meanwhile, Yahoo! is also conducting an ‘experiment’ with Google that also has a stake in AOL. The experiment will involve testing of the search engine’s advertising systems on Yahoo!’s site. Although both firms played down the reported deal, many see it as an effort by Yahoo! to bring yet another influential Internet player into its camp.

Microsoft offer rejected by Yahoo!

Yahoo! again rejected Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer to acquire the online media giant. The CEO of Yahoo! Inc. Jerry Yang sent the rejection letter on behalf of the board of director’s stating why the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo! and its stockholders. Furthermore, the letter clearly stated that their any transaction must be at a value that fully reflects the value of Yahoo!, including any strategic benefits to Microsoft and on terms that provide certainty to Yahoo’s stockholders.

Yahoo! laid out its three-year financial and strategic plan to its stockholders, since its initial rejection of Microsoft’s proposal. This plan clearly stated that the proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo’s face value. The company continues to launch new products and has leveraged its scale, technology, people and platforms, which have all boosted its present value. Additionally, the plan showed that the online company promised to foster the mobile ecosystem and extend its leadership in mobile, which in turn increases the company’s value all the more.

The analyst at Forrester Research, Charlene Li said in her blog that it is clear that Yahoo! is not ready to accept Microsoft’s offer and it would be more logical to sign a partnership agreement where the strengths of each company are shared.

Microsoft are not planning on increasing Yahoo! Bid

Yahoo’s refusal to accept their bid and their move to start talks with AOL and others to look at alternatives, maybe mergers, has not moved Microsoft to increase their bid. Two months back Microsoft had made a bid of $44.6 million and according to Reuters:

“Although some technology blogs have speculated that Microsoft is planning to raise its bid, one person familiar with the company’s plans said Microsoft does not feel the need to pay more because no viable strategic alternatives have emerged.”

“Why would Microsoft bid against themselves? The company sees no reason to bid against itself,” people familiar with Microsoft’s plans said. And since they were not authorised to speak on the subject they spoke on condition of anonymity.

Microsoft is comfortable biding its time also because a recent road show by top Yahoo! executives that was intended to build up support among American institutional investors and along with that prove that the bid was too low was considered by them as ‘underwhelming’ one of these people said.

Sources have also told Reuters that a meeting has taken place between Microsoft and Yahoo’s executives.

TechFest ‘08 showcases projects to enhance social networking and search functions

Microsoft invited its research teams across the globe to showcase their innovative offerings at the keenly awaited TechFest. They all gathered at the software maker’s headquarters to display their projects that focused on a diverse range of themes and functions. One of them was aimed at helping Internet users compile their friends’ social network profiles from different sources in one place. Researchers devised an IE plug-in for people based at different locations to save their search results and share notes. They also showcased a plug-in, which made accessible the pages visited during online search in easier fashion.

‘The World Wide telescope’, designed by Researcher Curtis Wong, showcased at the Microsoft TechFest ‘08 was an atypical tangible demonstration. An application that enables computer users to zoom from one galaxy to another, it included images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and a few other sources. Another notable project at the TechFest included innovations that used the data collected from sensors for more terrestrial purposes. Researchers from UK showed how a system of sensors, radio frequency identification tags and GPS data were fused into one to track the feeding habits of a local bird population, as a way to understand how changes in climate and other variables affected the species.