Kumo, might eventually be named "Bing", focuses on finding related search terms closely tied to your initial search. The idea was that "42 percent of all searches need to be refined after the first query". So, what Microsoft is trying to do is build a new interface, with a left window that will show related query, as well as organized search results by category.
Other than the new interface and new searching capabilities, Kumo is also upgraded with better integration with video and image searching, which is still a relative young technology currently. On top of that, Microsoft plan to spend $100 million+ to advertise this.
To me, Microsoft is desperate to fight Google and Yahoo in this search arena. From data today and from class, we know that search engine marketing is a BIG business, and it's currently where a lot of the online money is right now. Microsoft has been trailing as the #3 in this category, and never could break double-digits in market share.
But would Google and Yahoo let Microsoft succeed? Probably not! The articles mentioned above that Google and Yahoo already have similar features in their next generations of search engines, and as mentioned in the first article, Google has already built itself as "THE BRAND" for searching. Unless there is a dramtic breakthru in search technology, I doubt Google will ever loss that much market share.
As Professor Kagan mentioned in last lecture, some future company might come out the next time around to beat Google. This might be true, but I don't believe it will be this time and probably not even close. Based on this article below, Google remain #1 market share with 64% and it is the only company gaining market share last month. I think Google's brand is still strong, and until that next kid comes, Google is dominating this area and making a lot of money while doing it.
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