“It is going to be a difficult and long-term challenge,” said Scott Garell, president of Ask Networks, a subsidiary of IAC that includes the Ask.com search engine.
Ask has long been praised for its innovations, and it too spent more than US$100 million to market its search engine in 2006 and 2007, yet the company’s small market share has barely budged in recent years.
But analysts say that Bing’s solid start gives Microsoft a chance to finally sharpen its assault on the search business.
No one suggests that Google faces any immediate threat. With many people using more than one search engine, however, some believe that Bing has a shot at dislodging Yahoo as the logical alternative to Google.
Google declined to comment for this article, other than to say in a statement that it takes all competitors seriously.
“Yahoo doesn’t seem as aggressive as it has been in the past,” said Mark Mahaney, an analyst with Citigroup.
Mahaney cautioned that whatever gains Bing achieves in coming months, he still expected Bing to trail Yahoo a year from now.
Yahoo disputed Mahaney’s characterization. Larry Cornett, the company’s vice president for consumer products for search, said that in the last year alone, Yahoo had unveiled technologies that allow publishers to better showcase their sites in search results and tools that make it easier to conduct extensive research.
He said other companies were using an innovative Yahoo technology allowing them to build their own search services, which collectively garner nearly as many queries a day as Microsoft.
“What we have accomplished in the last year shows an incredible commitment and focus,” Cornett said.
Other analysts say that if Bing can sustain its early gains, it could have another important effect on the industry: Yahoo and Microsoft could be pushed into a search partnership.
Since Microsoft dropped its takeover attempt more than a year ago, the two companies have discussed a more limited alliance to take on Google but have been unable to reach an agreement. The talks continue apace, a person briefed on them said.
“If Bing can have some momentum, I think it makes a deal more likely,” said Benjamin Schachter, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech.
Schachter said continued momentum would make Bing a bigger threat and a more attractive partner for Yahoo.
For now, Microsoft continues to fight alone, but with more vigor than in years past, analysts said. Less than a month after Bing’s release, Microsoft beat Google and Yahoo to a hot new area in search: It became the first major search engine to index new postings from popular Twitter users almost immediately. The move helped amplify the buzz around Bing.
“I feel like they are a little more daring,” Sullivan said. “They popped this thing out in a few weeks. That’s very Googley.”
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