Originally published February 7 2005
Microsoft unveils new search engine for MSN
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Software giant Microsoft has finally unveiled its MSN Search software, which has been in development for more than two years. The company is making the new search feature the focal point of a multinational ad campaign, hoping to attract a larger share of the $5 billion commercial search market. Google is the market leader, but its share has been slipping as Yahoo! and other engines have ramped up their performance.
Microsoft on Monday replaced Yahoo's search technology with its own homespun software and will kick off a huge advertising campaign to supplant Google in consumers' hearts.
As expected, MSN, a unit of the software giant, has taken its Web search technology out of the laboratory, and placed it on MSN's newly redesigned home page in 25 countries.
MSN Search Vice President Christopher Payne would not disclose ad spending, but he estimated that 90 percent of Americans, as well as U.K. and Japanese residents, will encounter the campaign.
TV ads, for example, will run during the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Grammys.
Click to viewWith the ads and the new site, Microsoft will begin to flex its powerful marketing muscle in the competition to woo Web searchers and advertisers away from reigning champ Google.
Though Google has ballooned in power over the last five years, the company has already started to see its search lead shrink as Yahoo and others have entered its market.
Now that Microsoft is launching its own technology, the software giant will be working hard to outpace rivals, using its Internet Explorer browser and its desktop dominance to make a lasting impression.
Yahoo's Inktomi search technology has powered MSN for more than three years, and its commercial subsidiary Overture Services has provided targeted text ads for several years, too.
This year, analysts expect commercial search sales to reach about $5 billion.
And while MSN commands 10 percent or more of that market--$500 million--it will be reaching for a greater piece of the pie if it can lure more people to its search engine.
While Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Google and smaller sites like Answers.com have sought to fill in search requests with answers to questions on the weather, entertainment and package tracking, MSN believes it can do one better with its encyclopedia software Encarta.
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