Battle of the searches begins
2004-11-10 10:46
New York - Microsoft Corp will roll out its long-awaited internet search service on Thursday, adding fresh competition to Google Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
After 18 months of development, the Redmond, Washing-based software maker will open a preview version of the search service, according to people familiar with the plan.
The company is trying to grab a bigger piece of the lucrative business, now led by Google, of combining internet search and advertising.
According to a New York Times report word of the introduction of the service was leaked on Tuesday after the company began phoning reporters offering briefings for Wednesday.
A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the service.
According to the Times, Microsoft has been pursuing a web portal strategy with its MSN service with little success.
And, like Yahoo, Microsoft has been attempting to muscle in on Google's strong revenue growth.
Google, the largest search engine, has more than doubled its revenue and profit in its first quarter after going public.
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the search giant indexes about 4 billion webpages, 880 million images and 845 million Usenet messages. The service is used by almost 82 million people each month.
Second spot Yahoo Inc has revamped its service through over $2bn of acquisitions of search-related companies over the past year.
The new search service means Microsoft can stop paying Yahoo for use of its search engine.
Yahoo is pushing ahead with new targeted-search services and plans features that rely on information about its users to produce customised search results.
Microsoft, which has been testing its search technology since June, had promised a public version by year-end.
The company is also working on technology for searching for data on personal computers.
Microsoft's service, built by its MSN online group, thrusts the company into a growing battle over how people find information and buy things over the internet.