Bing's share of search less than Safari's share in browsers
Bing's market share in search, compared to Google, is actually smaller than Safari's share of web browsers in comparison to IE, according to statistics collected by Net Applications.
A historical analysis of Microsoft's web search brands published by RoughlyDrafted shows that the news fervor surrounding Bing is wildly overstated.
Few pundits are issuing weekly updates on Safari's progress over Internet Explorer, yet Safari has incrementally advanced over the past five years, rising from a 1.5% share of the browser market in 2004 to the current 8.5% share, based on historical web statistics published by Net Applications.
In contrast, Bing, the latest version (not unlike Safari 4.0) of Microsoft's search websites, represents a business that has actually shrunk significantly since 2004. Microsoft's combined search properties, including MSN Search, Live Search, Windows Live Search, and Bing, dropped from a 14% share of search in 2004 to the current 5.9%.
The graphic below shows Net Application's historical figures for the top three web search and web browser vendors (Microsoft's search properties are combined together). The left end of the chart shows an annual scale, the right end shows monthly scale. Google is consistently increasing its share of web search despite Microsoft's bundling of search with Windows, while IE is dramatically losing share despite its monopoly-tying.
A historical analysis of Microsoft's web search brands published by RoughlyDrafted shows that the news fervor surrounding Bing is wildly overstated.
Few pundits are issuing weekly updates on Safari's progress over Internet Explorer, yet Safari has incrementally advanced over the past five years, rising from a 1.5% share of the browser market in 2004 to the current 8.5% share, based on historical web statistics published by Net Applications.
In contrast, Bing, the latest version (not unlike Safari 4.0) of Microsoft's search websites, represents a business that has actually shrunk significantly since 2004. Microsoft's combined search properties, including MSN Search, Live Search, Windows Live Search, and Bing, dropped from a 14% share of search in 2004 to the current 5.9%.
The graphic below shows Net Application's historical figures for the top three web search and web browser vendors (Microsoft's search properties are combined together). The left end of the chart shows an annual scale, the right end shows monthly scale. Google is consistently increasing its share of web search despite Microsoft's bundling of search with Windows, while IE is dramatically losing share despite its monopoly-tying.
Comments
I know that Bing was previously Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search, however, since MS has not only rebranded their search, but also made significant changes to the service, I think we should wait and judge it on its own merits over the coming months. That said, the marketshare MS has already taken could easily be “new” product rush, not an appealing advancement in web searches. Time will tell.
According to Bloomberg, Bing has gone up since its launch. The site also states they have stolen marketshare from Yahoo, while Google remained at 65%.
I know that Bing was previously Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search, however, since MS has not only rebranded their search, but also made significant changes to the service, I think we should wait and judge it on its own merits over the coming months. That said, the marketshare MS has already taken could easily be ?new? product rush, not an appealing advancement in web searches. Time will tell.
Bing's not the only alternative to Yahoo and Google.
http://www.cuil.com
According to Bloomberg, Bing has gone up since its launch. The site also states they have stolen marketshare from Yahoo, while Google remained at 65%.
Are those USA figures?
I don't know people in Europe who swear by anything other than Google. The only time Microsoft Live Search and now Bing get used is when a user is on Internet Explorer and types a web address IE can't handle or find.
I love Safari 4.0 as it is everything the Safari should have been in the beginning. Yet, I use IE on my work Windows laptop even though it has Safari loaded on it. I'm not crazy about the look of Safari on Windows, so I don't use it there. Apple really needs to rethink its look (maybe it is just the XP version that is ugly).
Whilst there is still an incredible gulf between them, Google need to be careful not to underestimate Microsoft. Google are far more vulnerable to attack than Microsoft, since despite all their products (Earth, Docs, Piccasa etc.), only search generates revenue (vs. Microsoft who make money from Windows, XBox, Office etc.), which means if anyone does come up with a credible alternative, they could find themselves in trouble quickly.
Microsoft seem to be making a few steps in that direction. Google need to make sure they don't get distracted from maintaining their search position by constantly trying to find new ways to annoy Microsoft with things like Android and Chrome OS.
I'm no fan of Microsoft, mostly because of some of their business practices, but it would be unfair not to admit that sometimes they come up with a decent product.
According to Bloomberg, Bing has gone up since its launch. The site also states they have stolen marketshare from Yahoo, while Google remained at 65%.
I know that Bing was previously Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search, however, since MS has not only rebranded their search, but also made significant changes to the service, I think we should wait and judge it on its own merits over the coming months. That said, the marketshare MS has already taken could easily be ?new? product rush, not an appealing advancement in web searches. Time will tell.
If you "unstretch" the part on the right of the graph, you can indeed see that Microsoft's search share has indeed been *climbing* the past months almost as quickly as it was falling shortly before.
I think that the partly stretched graph isn't really fair, by kind of hiding that.
According to Bloomberg, Bing has gone up since its launch. The site also states they have stolen marketshare from Yahoo, while Google remained at 65%.
I know that Bing was previously Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search, however, since MS has not only rebranded their search, but also made significant changes to the service, I think we should wait and judge it on its own merits over the coming months. That said, the marketshare MS has already taken could easily be ?new? product rush, not an appealing advancement in web searches. Time will tell.
yeah i can tell bing is better, i do get sick of the constant rebranding at microsoft however.
it's like, so wait, my .net passport account is now a windows live account? which i'll now use at bing.com, which is different than the still existing windows live but now going to live.com doesn't take you to windows live? or how about changing add/remove programs to programs and features in the control panel just to confuse everyone. microsoft doesn't actually change much but changes names constantly as their strategy and vision changes to one mild failure after another to capture the top marketshare category in [insert product category besides OS and office suites]
Why the hell did they name it Bing? Microsoft has the worse product names. Zune? Bing? Microsoft Bob?
haha yeah, they just make up words with a syllable dart board and assume someone will think it's trendy and web 2.0.
Why the hell did they name it Bing? Microsoft has the worse product names. Zune? Bing? Microsoft Bob?
I thought I read somewhere that it's an acronym for "But It's Not Google". Kind of clever, but kind of stupid at the same time. A fine line those folk at MS walk.
I don't see the point of comparing these two products.
Excuse me for a simple question: Why is a browsers market share important? Does Apple or Microsoft make money out of it? No. But with Bing they (at least try to) make money.
I don't see the point of comparing these two products.
The market share of the browser is important, because the browser will default to a certain search engine, which effectively directs traffic towards one companies revenue generating search engine.
Firefox and Safari default to sending people to Google, hence increasing traffic to Google which will generate them revenue, whilst MS Explorer defaults to Bing. Most people don't change the default, so market share of the browser matters.
Few pundits are issuing weekly updates on Safari's progress over Internet Explorer.
I don't think anyone denies that Safari has made itself a market as a browser and the reopening of the browser market to competition from browsers like Firefox and Safari is a good thing. However, I highly doubt weekly updates on Safari's browser share is necessary, even for an Apple website.
Excuse me for a simple question: Why is a browsers market share important? Does Apple or Microsoft make money out of it? No. But with Bing they (at least try to) make money.
I don't see the point of comparing these two products.
Well Apple certainly makes money with Safari since I believe Google pays Apple a fee for the search traffic that Safari directs to them. Safari's market share is also a critical motivator to get web developers to make websites that aren't simply optimized for Internet Explorer which of course improves the web experience of Mac users and iPhones users.
Maybe Microsoft could get more traffic if they found a way to make their Bing commercials more annoying. No wait, that'd be impossible.
I find the commercials clever. Unfortunately, bing doesn't do what the commercials imply. I've used it a couple of times and don't find the results any better than google - it hasn't made my search 'better' as the commercials imply. Actually, if google isn't doing what I want, I find Clusty does a great job of organizing search results. It gives the results but gives you categories on the left. wicked helpful (http://clusty.com/)
I thought I read somewhere that it's an acronym for "But It's Not Google". Kind of clever, but kind of stupid at the same time. A fine line those folk at MS walk.
BISM = But It's Still Microsoft
2. It seems to me the author are trying to find anything, connect them together, and put down Microsoft as much as possible -- when Microsoft is behind (in search), the article carries a negative tone towards it; when it is ahead (in browser), the author shifts focus to the YoY market loss with a negative tone. This is very inconsistent. If this is the case, then all reports regarding iphone should focus on how it is lagging supremely behind RIM in absolute sales rather than YoY gain. If the author wants to make comparisons, stay consistent, either compare the absolute number or compare YoY.
3. I agree with an earlier comment that it is too early to judge what bing.com can do
4. I think MS's decision to change from live.com to bing.com is largely based on the fact that "live it" doesn't roll of one's tongue like "google it". So they now want ppl to "bing their results", a lame copy cat move, but I think it is working because I have heard ppl asking me to bing addresses'
my 2 cents