Although barely a year old, Microsoft’s Bing search engine has started to gain significant search market share in the U.S. Most likely because it is the default search engine for Internet Explorer and Motorola Android phones of course.
Bing: Microsoft's Search Engine
According to media metrics firm Nielsen, during February 2010 Bing was the number three search engine with a 12.5 % share of the U.S. search market, up from 10.9% in January 2010. At the same time Google dropped over a point from a 66.3% market share in January to 65.2%. Proportionately, that represents a 14.7% increase for Bing. Overall, in raw numbers Nielsen found that U.S. searches dropped by over 1 billion in February, dropping from 10.27 billion searches in January to 9.18 billion in February. Could this be in part due to the rise of facebook?
Google has launched an online store dedicated to business applications, adding its weight to the growing clamor for the adoption of cloud computing.
According to Cnet, Google is bringing Apple’s ‘app store’ concept to business cloud computing, giving software developers a storefront to attract Google Apps customers. The store will act as a platform through which third-party developers can offer business services such as VoIP communication and network monitoring.
Google Business App Store
It is hoped that organisations will use the service to find and purchase cloud software applications, while developers will be given access to a customer base of over 25 million.
“The Web works best when everyone uses ‘best of breed’ tools and connects them using open standards”, explained Google engineering director David Glazer.
Like the iPhone App Store, developers will have to pay a one-time $100 (72 EURO) fee to list their applications in the store, and Google will get a 20% share of all applications sold through the store.
By promoting cloud computing services to companies, Google expects to generate more income from its non-search activities. The company’s revenue from non-advertising operations topped $762 million last year, up by more than 400% from $181 million in 2007.
Despite online initiatives, rival Microsoft is still reliant on individual computer licenses of its Windows operating system and software programs.
Google’s next step is expected to be a Chrome OS that won’t need to operate on a local hard drive – functioning instead on Internet access and cloud-computing principles.
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