Was this Microsoft’s bing strategy all along:
- Hire Yahoo Search braintrust
- Rebrand Live Search
- Focus on algorithms, presentation tweaks and tools.
- Throw the Kitchen Sink at it. Somewhere between 50 and 100 million into a scorched earth launch and marketing strategy to see if it moves the market share the needle. Try and buy users through cashback incentives.
- If yes – throw more Kitchen Sinks
- If no – back to the table with Yahoo
We will probably know by the end of this month how this hypothetical first decision plays out. According to ComScore, bing was only up 0.4% in June. Google still holds over 65% of the US search market and Microsoft, despite the investment is at 8.4%. While Microsoft may be the most profitable company in history, with unlimited resources to launch products, bing is no bang, and all the Kitchen Sinks available won’t land them a credible second place in search on their own.
