Can Google challenge Microsoft’s dominance in 2010?

admin    Google     2010, challenge, dominance, Google, Microsoft's

In 2009, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. were fighting for each other’s market share and revenue stream by introducing new products and updated versions of existing ones. Various analysts predict that the year 2010 will see more action between the two giants as they compete in the fields of Internet search, operating systems, enterprise applications and web browsers.

While, Microsoft leads in operating system, enterprise applications and web browsers market, Google holds the lead in search arena. However, in the field of web based applications, Google is slowly snatching the market share from Microsoft. For Google, it’s all about expanding, but for Microsoft, it’s about sustaining the lead in the world market. Meanwhile, few analysts believe that Google is the only one that could rattle Microsoft.

Here, we discuss various territories, where the two giants fighting head on.

Internet Search Share

As per the November market share, Google remained the dominant leader with 65.6% share, whereas Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing reported 17.5% and 10.3% share. Besides real-time search interface, Google has also introduced new up gradations in its search engine, which include Google Goggles (a photo-based search), Instant Voice Translation, Location based search and Near Me Now service. Further, the company also introduced its faster variant called Google Caffeine.

Google earns 90% of its revenue from web-ads, therefore to check the company prospects; Microsoft has to cut their ad revenue. Therefore, against Google’s monopoly, Microsoft and Yahoo had joined hands in the search and Bing will become the default search engine on Yahoo, creating a search player with close to 30% share compared with Google’s 65%. Further, Microsoft has developed the feature-rich updated version of its Bing maps and introduced another application, called Local Lens to figure out exact location as well.

Operating systems

Microsoft is presently enjoying 92% share in the OS market, whereas Google is under the process of developing its Chrome operating system for light PCs like netbooks. Last month, Google had released its source code for developers. It is reported that the search giant will also release its Android OS based netbook and Smartphone in 2010.

The new systems based on Chrome OS will support cloud computing and will be web-connected via Wi-Fi and play only web-based applications such as Google Docs. Hence, Microsoft has to formulate suitable technologies and up gradations to counter the Google emergence in the OS arena.

Web-based Apps

In last two-three years, Google has twisted the pattern of Microsoft’s Office market share. Consumers are now using web based apps of Google, which is available for as low as @ $50 per user, per year.

Microsoft is aware of the growing threat from the search giant, and will counter it in Office 2010. The new productivity suite will include Web-based versions of its most commonly used applications, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for the first time. Microsoft holds more than 90% share of office tools.

Web browser

According to December market share report, with 4.63% share, Google’s Chrome web browser has surpassed Apple’s Safari (4.46%) to become the world’s third-most popular browser in just 16 months after its debut. In comparison, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) has posted a drop of 0.92% to 62.7% in December. Further, IE reports continuous slip in its share since the second half of 2009.

Microsoft’s Bing Versus Google

admin    MSN Bing     Bing, Google, Microsoft's, Versus

Microsoft will launch its newest search engine offering, Bing, soon. Rather than just another search engine that dishes out results based on popularity as was its previous two attempts with Live Search and MSN Search, Bing is being reformatted as a ‘decision engine’.

It aims to clean up the smorgasbord of results thrown at users when searching for a solution on the Web to allow users to make decisions to their not-so-simple questions like ‘Where to go for dinner?’

Since drawing excitement as ‘Kumo’ with some of its features revealed on the Microsoft blog in March, Microsoft has since renamed their new search engine Bing. “The name is short, it’s easy to say, it works globally,” quipped Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer.

Bing might find it an insurmountable battle with search engine giant Google though. According to research group comScore Inc, based on the US search queries in April, 65% of searches were ran on Google, with Yahoo coming up a distant second with 20.4% and Microsoft managing a disappointing 8.2%.

Acknowledging the tough competition, Microsoft hasn’t set its sights on beating the giant. Instead, Mike Nichols, a general manager in the search department said: “We want to capture a unique position in consumers’ minds. They need to know why is it that they should use this product.”

While chances are Microsoft will not get a bite of the Google pie share, Bing might just succeed at attracting some of Yahoo’s users. It aims to do so with a set of features that makes it stand out against its competitors.

Unlike Google, related search results are placed in a left column instead of at the bottom of the page, together with a bar of links running down the left side of the search results page that aim to help organise results. It also keeps track of recent searches and enables users to email links from that search history or share them on Facebook.

Instead of being directed to another site based on the search results, users looking to shop or check airfares online will find the information they need on the Bing result page itself. A search on airfare will bring up results from Farecast which features the Price Predictor that charts the best time to buy an air ticket so as to get you the biggest savings. Bing makes shopping a convenient experience by bringing together price comparisons, images and reviews, not unlike Amazon.com. What’s more, it claims to get consumers cash backs from hundreds of online retailers.

Bing also reassures the user looking for medical information online by providing results from the top credible medical sources in the world which you can trust. It also refines the results on local searches and allows you to filter your results so you get what you want instead of having to sift through everything a search engine would usually throw at you.

Although the search engine market is already saturated with big players like Google and Yahoo and country-specific search engines favourable with the locals, it remains to be seen if Microsoft Bing’s fresh offerings have the ability to pave its way up the charts to bring it face to face with Google.