 News Menu |
|
|
| Site Menu |
|
|
| Site Affiliates |
|
|
| Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Anybody who is anybody in the Web-search realm -- and that list now includes Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Ask Jeeves -- is acting quickly to stake a claim on the most lucrative piece of real estate in the search world: personal computer users' desktops.
This week, Ask Jeeves released the beta version of its desktop search tool. But the going will be tough for everyone, Forrester Research's Charlene Li told NewsFactor. Loyalty will be the key to generating revenue through desktop search, she said, and the rush to gain that loyalty is on.
Critical Crossroads
The dilemma that search-software vendors have at this point in the game pits speed-to-market against functionality, Li pointed out. For example, Yahoo recently released a tool based on technology it licensed from XI Technologies. That was last week -- an eternity in the hyper-warped desktop-search market.
What Yahoo had to decide, Li explained, was whether to pursue its vision of a tool that fully integrates with all of Yahoo's discussion and chat services, or whether to simply get out there. In this regard, it was weighing both competition from Google, which has a tool that integrates nicely with its Web-search functionality, and Microsoft, which last week was lumbering down the pike.
Fi, Fie, Fo, Fum
Now, though, the giant has arrived. Microsoft also announced the release of a desktop search tool this week -- at least, a preview version. Loyalty to Internet search engines depends on a variety of factors, including some that the engines themselves can control, like viral marketing. However, Li pointed out, loyalty on the desktop is another matter altogether.
It is a matter over which Microsoft has a good deal of mastery, she noted. With an overwhelming percentage of personal computer users employing a Microsoft operating system, a Microsoft Web browser, and Microsoft desktop applications, the company has a significant edge in garnering what every desktop search tool needs: eyes.
So, whether the other search-engine vendors are ready or not, the race has begun. It will be won, predicts Li, by the company that is able to latch onto users' attention and loyalty first and most strongly.
 News source: NewsFactor
|
| There are 0 additional comments, Post a comment | View printable post | Open/Close All Comments |
|
|
|
|
Recent 
Recent 
Announcement
