Bing's share of search less than Safari's share in browsers

[AppleInsider]

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.

[solipsism]

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.

[badNameErr]

It's a little early to judge Bings impact.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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

[PACraddock]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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.

[MacTel]

Of course that's Safari usage on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and iPod Touch combined. When that's said then Safari's gains are not surprising.

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).

[elliots11]

Maybe Microsoft could get more traffic if they found a way to make their Bing commercials more annoying. No wait, that'd be impossible.

[PaulMJohnson]

I actually quite like Bing. I can't say I've used it massively - mostly because it's become instinct to just type google.com into my address bar whenever I'm looking for something (I never use search boxes in browser for some reason), but the few looks I've had at Bing have been positive.

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.

[Doxxic]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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.

[Trajectory]

Why the hell did they name it Bing? Microsoft has the worse product names. Zune? Bing? Microsoft Bob?

[akhomerun]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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]

[akhomerun]

Originally Posted by Trajectory

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.

[gsteeno]

Originally Posted by Trajectory

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.

[TiAdiMundo]

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.

[PaulMJohnson]

Originally Posted by TiAdiMundo

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.

[ltcommander.data]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

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.

Originally Posted by TiAdiMundo

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.

[johnmcboston]

Originally Posted by elliots11

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/)

[Wil Maneker]

Originally Posted by gsteeno

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

[Kolchak]

The only thing I use Bing for is the maps. Their "bird's eye" views are more useful than just seeing rooftops in the aerial or satellite views Google Maps has.

[Aizmov]

I wont use Bing if it is the last search engine around.

[buggybug0]

this article along with its title seems most illogical. Search and browser, though related, are largely different topics. It is like saying "iPhone's share in smartphones less than RIM's apps in AppWorld" -- a valid sentence/comparison, but gives the readers a "huh? so what" reaction.

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

[bloodstains]

Originally Posted by gsteeno

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.

Sounds more like a backronym to me. If we're making up acronyms though I prefer:
Bing! It's Not Google

It's got the unix geek/free software self referential thing going on (Yay irony!).
GNU = Gnu's Not Unix
Wine = Wine Is No Emulator
Lame = Lame Ain't an Mp3 Encoder

[Denton]

Originally Posted by gsteeno

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.

If anything, Bing would be an acronym for "Bing is not Google," similar to other recursive acronyms such as Pine = "Pine is not Elm" and Gnu = "Gnu's not Unix."

Edit: goddammit, bloodstains steals my thunder...

[fishstick_kitty]

What a bizzare analogy...wtf does does one have to do with another?

[JavaCowboy]

I'm a Mac user and generally dislike Microsoft products. Having said that, I tried Bing out, and it does a pretty decent job of searching. I also find it very fast. That's not to say that I prefer it over Google, but if I was stuck with only Bing to search, I wouldn't mind much.

[thanx_al]

BING - The answer to a question nobody asked.

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Bing's not the only alternative to Yahoo and Google.

http://www.cuil.com

You gotta love the Google ads on that site

[danielsmi]

What a stupid article. is anyone going to acknowledge the fact that the bing service wasn't launched until JUNE! This article has nothing to do with Bing and doesn't account at all for it's increase in market share since launch.

how about this article that says bing has 8% market share.

http://news.ebrandz.com/microsoft/20...ce-launch.html

which is twice as high as Mac marketshare worldwide and Apple has been making macs for over 20 years. Yikes!

[macnyc]

Originally Posted by johnmcboston

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/)

Microsoft has outdone themselves with these new ads.

I'm just waiting for them to be used in a domestic violence case: "I'm sorry your honor, if it wasn't for that really annoying Bing commercial on TV, I never would've hit my wife!"

Whenever they come on, I turn off the sound or switch the channel... BING!

[macFanDave]

Yet again, Microsoft's marketing is so bizarre that they scare people away from their products. The commercials are intensely annoying when they should be helpful and educational.

I tried Bing a few times and didn't see a lot of difference between their results and what I got from Google. If somehow they can educate me on how I can get better results, I might use Bing more often. Instead Microsoft blasts me with irritating ads of people doing free association.

What a stupid company.

[Trajectory]

Apple should announce their own search engine: BONG!

I'm sure that Dell dude is available to do the commercials.

[Slurpy]

Originally Posted by MacTel

Of course that's Safari usage on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and iPod Touch combined. When that's said then Safari's gains are not surprising.

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).

And why would you use IE instead of firefox?

[Prince]

Originally Posted by danielsmi

What a stupid article. is anyone going to acknowledge the fact that the bing service wasn't launched until JUNE! This article has nothing to do with Bing and doesn't account at all for it's increase in market share since launch.

how about this article that says bing has 8% market share.

http://news.ebrandz.com/microsoft/20...ce-launch.html

which is twice as high as Mac marketshare worldwide and Apple has been making macs for over 20 years. Yikes!

Microsoft leverages a monopoly position and sells its software across every PC vendor on earth apart from Apple, so your comparison between Windows and Mac OS in terms of market share doesn't represent what you seem to think it represents. Since 2004, Apple has gone from a ~1.5% share of the PC market to what is now closer to 8%, and Apple makes far more per unit than Microsoft does--go compare Apple's earnings to Microsoft's and account for the size of the two companies.

Now compare the fact that, while Macs and Safari have both climbed dramatically since 2004 against a monopoly position, Microsoft's monopoly-leveraged, Windows-tied search business has shrunk up by almost 60%! It's getting Special Olympics-style applause for getting a blip of coverage after spending millions on ads.

Please try to keep up. The article you cite doesn't give 8% MARKET SHARE, it says "8% of unique users," another clever statistic to fool morons. A (limited) flurry of unique visitors checked Bing out in its debut month, but they did not account for a similar SHARE of SEARCHES because they weren't really looking for anything, they were just looking AT BING. Do you think that is sustainable?

Pay attention to details and you won't be so overwhelmed and impressed by the propaganda machine Microsoft's $80-100 million is buying.

[Mr. Me]

Originally Posted by TiAdiMundo

Excuse me for a simple question: Why is a browsers market share important? Does Apple or Microsoft make money out of it? No. ...

You had a good question, but then you gave a really bad answer to it. Browsers do in fact generate revenue. Internet Explorer generates revenue. Firefox generates revenue. This is the reason that Steve Jobs gave to porting Safari to Windows. He didn't want to "leave money on the table."

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Mr. Me

You had a good question, but then you gave a really bad answer to it. Browsers do in fact generate revenue. Internet Explorer generates revenue. Firefox generates revenue. This is the reason that Steve Jobs gave to porting Safari to Windows. He didn't want to "leave money on the table."

They definitely make money from searches, but I think that Apple’s decision to port Safari to Windows is a little deeper than just making a couple million from the search field each year.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by freelander51

You gotta love the Google ads on that site

The company is founded by most of the major developers who worked at Google. It stands to reason they would leverage their own legacy.

[AppleStud]

Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson

(vs. Microsoft who make money from Windows, XBox, Office etc.)

MSFT makes money off xbox?? lol

Check their annual 10-K - Entertainment and Devices division is a perpetual money-loser, until finally in FYE 2008 it eeked out a $270m operating profit off $8b in revenue....ie, razor thin profit margins.

[edub]

wow, this is honestly the first time I've heard of Bing.

Where is the marketing campaign for this? - does it come in a box of cracker jacks?

[JupiterOne]

Originally Posted by edub

wow, this is honestly the first time I've heard of Bing.

Where is the marketing campaign for this? - does it come in a box of cracker jacks?

This is the first think I thought of when I heard of this.

[Trajectory]

Originally Posted by edub

wow, this is honestly the first time I've heard of Bing.

Where is the marketing campaign for this? - does it come in a box of cracker jacks?

You need to visit this website more often.