Live Search

Bing's Search Share Is Growing? Must Be All Those "Hiybbprqag" Searches, Eh Google?

John Paczkowski in News on February 8, 2011 at 2:10 pm PT

Some encouraging new search metrics for Bing. Experian Hitwise data for January shows Microsoft’s search engine with 12.81 percent of the market, up from 10.6 percent in December–-a 21 percent gain. Add to that the 14.62 percent share claimed by the now-powered-by-Bing Yahoo, and Bing’s got more than a quarter of the U.S. search market.

Insert Alliterative Bing Headline Here

John Paczkowski in News on June 11, 2009 at 2:25 am PT

Early gains do not guarantee a long-term increase in search market share, and thanks to its experience with Live Search and Live Search Cashback, Microsoft knows this better than anyone. That said, Redmond’s new search engine, Bing, does seem to be making some solid progress.

Microsoft Effort to Best Google Yields Results

Katherine Boehret in The Mossberg Solution on June 2, 2009 at 5:00 pm PT

Microsoft’s Bing search engine retrieves on-target and useful information in a user-friendly manner that looks and feels more inviting than Google.

My Bing-a-Ling

John Paczkowski in News on May 26, 2009 at 11:51 am PT

What’s in a name? Apparently, the answer to Microsoft’s many search problems. As we previously reported, the software behemoth plans to debut its new search service at our D: All Things Digital conference later this week, and when it does it may have a new name. Reports claim that Microsoft Live Search, once known as Windows Live Search, and prior to that as MSN Search, will henceforth be known as… Bing.

Would Microsoft's New Search Name Smell as Sweet if It Were Named After a Cherry or a Soprano?

Kara Swisher in News on April 21, 2009 at 11:03 am PT

What’s in a name? Well, a lot, actually, and BoomTown supposes it would be just like those Pacific Northwest types at Microsoft to name the new version of its search service “Bing,” presumably after the cherry that is a big product in the company’s home state. That moniker is one of many being bandied about in a group the software giant could be considering for the big relaunch of its search service, which it has been prepping. But Microsoft should forget the fruity metaphor, also rename its MSN online service “Bada” and use this motto: “Bada Bing, Bada Boom, Notta Bada Algorithm!”

Yahoo Search Market Share: From Worse to Worse…

John Paczkowski in News on April 10, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

Yahoo claimed 20.6 percent of all U.S. search queries in February, according to comScore. A year from now it will claim just 17.51 percent or less, its share gutted by the loss of deals that once made Yahoo’s the default search toolbar on new HP and Acer PCs. Who got those deals? Microsoft and Google, of course.

Maybe Lauren's Not Cool Enough to Be a Google User, Either

John Paczkowski in News on April 3, 2009 at 6:50 am PT

With Microsoft’s February share of the search market weighing in at a paltry 8.2 percent and declining, the company is going to extraordinary lengths to reverse the public’s indifference to its search offering. It tried loyalty programs. It tried rewards programs. Now, as it prepares to rebrand its search engine under a new name–Kumo–it’s turning to a more proven method: an $80 million to $100 million advertising campaign.

Maybe Lauren’s Not Cool Enough to Be a Google User, Either

John Paczkowski in News on April 3, 2009 at 6:50 am PT

With Microsoft’s February share of the search market weighing in at a paltry 8.2 percent and declining, the company is going to extraordinary lengths to reverse the public’s indifference to its search offering. It tried loyalty programs. It tried rewards programs. Now, as it prepares to rebrand its search engine under a new name–Kumo–it’s turning to a more proven method: an $80 million to $100 million advertising campaign.

A Sneak Peek Look at Microsoft's New Kumo: A Spidery Cloud? A Cloudy Spider?

Kara Swisher in News on March 2, 2009 at 5:07 pm PT

Here are three screenshots of Microsoft’s internal test of a new search product called Kumo. The long expected upgrade to Live Search from Microsoft is being tested for a public rollout later this year. Sources at Microsoft said the company has not yet decided whether it will keep the Kumo name, which sounds a little too much like that crazy dog from the Stephen King novel. Maybe that’s the point, at least related to Google. (Chomp!) In Japanese, actually, Kumo has two definitions–cloud and spider.

The Entire Internal Microsoft Memo on New Dell and Verizon Deal

Kara Swisher in News on January 8, 2009 at 1:29 pm PT

BoomTown loves a good memo and here’s one that two of Microsoft’s top online execs, Yusuf Mehdi and Satya Nadella, sent out about the deal the tech giant signed with Dell and Verizon to distribute its search and other products. Microsoft is opening its fat wallet to do such deal and try to best archrival Google. Here’s the memo.