Yahoo deal puts IBM, Microsoft in enterprise search pickle
Yahoo's decision to use Microsoft's Bing search engine could cause a "strange bedfellows" competitive conflict between Microsoft and IBM in the enterprise search market.
Yahoo's decision to use Microsoft's Bing search engine could cause a "strange bedfellows" competitive conflict between Microsoft and IBM in the enterprise search market.
The search tie-up between Yahoo and Microsoft does not affect Yahoo's China properties, which are controlled by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, the group said Thursday.
When Yahoo Inc. agreed to team up with Microsoft Corp. to better take on search giant Google Inc., some analysts said they wondered whether the online pioneer mistakenly sold its soul in the process.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was surprised that Wall Street reacted negatively to Yahoo's plan to hand over its Internet search and advertising reins to Microsoft, he said Thursday.
The successful launch of Microsoft's revamped search engine, Bing, was likely the event that tipped the scales in favor of Yahoo agreeing to a search deal, analysts said.
Yahoo's high-profile and widely used search APIs (application programming interfaces) and search programs for external developers are up in the air after the company's decision to outsource its search engine services to Microsoft.
Microsoft and Yahoo struck a long-anticipated search deal Wednesday under which Microsoft's Bing search engine will power Yahoo's search site, and Yahoo will sell premium search advertising services for both companies.
With Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. signing an Internet search and advertising agreement today, some might think that search giant Google Inc. would be nervously looking over its shoulder at the oncoming assault.
The head of Google's search organization said the search deal announced Wednesday between Microsoft and Yahoo looked likely to be negative for competition and for consumers.
About a year after Microsoft's hostile, contentious and unsuccessful bid to buy Yahoo, the two companies appear set to join forces to take on a common rival - Google.
In a pre-emptive strike against Google Inc.'s Chrome OS, DeviceVM Inc. plans to make Web search the centerpiece of its popular instant-on operating system.
Yahoo on Tuesday reported second-quarter revenue of US$1.57 billion, down 13 percent from a year earlier as companies continued to spend less on advertising.
In less than a week, Microsoft could reach an alliance with Yahoo that could compete better with Google in online search advertising, according to media reports.
Reports released this week showed that Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search tool continues to gain ground in the search engine wars, but how much ground is a bit up in the air.
Yahoo is touting a data centre design which it says is based on 'chicken coops'. But data centre operator e-shelter, while welcoming the concept, has queried whether the design would be suitable for the corporate sector.