Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing has recently added a new feature called Price Predictors to its travel searches, which automatically suggest flights based on the best air fares -- and even recommends if you should buy now or hold off for a better price based on how fares are trending. For flexible travelers, suggestions are offered as one types in the search bar. We believe this will have an impact on companies like Expedia (EXPE), the largest U.S. online travel agency by booking volumes, and challenge Google's (GOOG) move into the travel search.

Continue reading Bing Travel's New Features Step on Google and Expedia's Toes

Bing Travel's New Features Step on Google and Expedia's Toes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo! Lays Off 600 Employees

Yahoo! Lays Off 600 Employees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google (GOOG) found itself in the news spotlight Tuesday morning. First, the company announced that it is going to make a substantial offer to purchase coupon site Groupon. The other news is that the company now faces a formal investigation from European Union antitrust regulators following complaints from several search providers that Google has abused its "dominant position."

The EU stated, "The Commission will investigate whether Google has abused a dominant market position in online search by allegedly lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services." Back in February, Google reported that a British site (Foundem) and a French legal search engine (ejustice.fr) both accused the company of demoting their sites in Web search results through its search algorithm. The two sites state that this took place because they are rivals.

Continue reading Google Faces European Anti-Trust Probe

Google Faces European Anti-Trust Probe originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Google Second-Quarter Earnings Preview

Google Second-Quarter Earnings Preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Market Stages Furious Rally (BP, C, GE, MSFT, T, F)

Closing Bell: Market Stages Furious Rally (BP, C, GE, MSFT, T, F) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google's (GOOG) problems in China have been well-publicized in recent years. The world's most populous country and its own Baidu.com search engine have managed to stave off Google to a minority market share. At the same time, the Chinese government has been no friend of the world's leading search engine, requesting censored results in comparison to Google's "all information is free" stance. So, Google stands prepared to leave China for good.

Continue reading If Google Closes Shop in China, Microsoft Should Pounce on Baidu

If Google Closes Shop in China, Microsoft Should Pounce on Baidu originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Facebook Rises in Search Market

Facebook Rises in Search Market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Google Raises Internet Search Market Share Again in December; Bing Drops Share

Google Raises Internet Search Market Share Again in December; Bing Drops Share originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft (MSFT) has been touting its "decision engine" Bing since this past summer, and it recently became the standard search engine underneath Yahoo!'s (YHOO) massive user database. Although Bing has been well-received and grew almost immediately after being released, Google (GOOG) has finally quashed some of the enthusiasm by increasing its market share for Internet search in November back above 70%.

Google's share rose to 71.6%, an increase of 1.4% from the prior month. While that may sound small, a single percent in Internet search market share can be hundreds of thousands more searches (or tens of millions). At the same time, both Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo! declined in November. All this according to web metric firm Hitwise.

Continue reading Google ups search market share in November, keeps competitors guessing

Google ups search market share in November, keeps competitors guessing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google (GOOG) may be going after real-time search, but Microsoft (MSFT) isn't following. The company said on Tuesday that it doesn't see a pressing need to integrate with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to deliver real-time results. According to Adam Sohn, director of Bing, Microsoft's search engine, "We're focused on our customers, not the competition."

Real-time search involves taking the freshest updates from social media platforms as soon as they are posted and including them in search results. For Google, the search engine segment leader by a mile, this has been a priority. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, Google has also inked an agreement with Yahoo! (YHOO).

Continue reading Microsoft won't chase Google into real-time search

Microsoft won't chase Google into real-time search originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's now official: Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO) are in cahoots to take on search engine giant Google (GOOG). The new search partnership inked by the two companies still needs to secure regulatory approval, but the talks that began in late July are merely a step away from reality now.

Microsoft and Yahoo! expect to pass this final step early next year. If this happens, the muscle behind Yahoo! search will be Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Continue reading Microsoft and Yahoo! sign on the dotted line

Microsoft and Yahoo! sign on the dotted line originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Often, we confuse winning with being the best. This isn't always the case. There are plenty of ways to get ahead when you don't have the top product on the market. The smoke-filled backroom meetings may be a thing of the past, but the net effect lingers. This is exactly what went down, according to a Reuters report, when Microsoft (MSFT) had a chat with News Corp (NWS).

Microsoft suggested a relationship with News Corp which would involve the latter's yanking its news sites from Google (GOOG) ... for a fee, of course. This would cost the search engine giant -- which is also a news aggregation giant -- access to some hefty publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Sun and the New York Post.

Continue reading Microsoft and News Corp talk about pushing Google aside

Microsoft and News Corp talk about pushing Google aside originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter calls Google (GOOG) a "good role model," but says it isn't ready to rush down the road to advertising.

Nonetheless, an ad-based revenue model is something that cofounder Biz Stone says they "will be looking to do down the line." But, for now, he continues, Twitter is focused on "creating value for our users." For now, revenue generation ideas are being put on paper, "and we're definitely going to get to them," Stone says.

Continue reading Twitter finally reveals revenue ambition, wants to be Google -- but not yet

Twitter finally reveals revenue ambition, wants to be Google -- but not yet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Michael Moe knows how to make headlines: Talk about Twitter and predictably people will bite (I'm proof of that). He led the team at NeXt Up Research that calculated the value of the micro blogging service and arrived at $526 million to $674 million -- half what Twitter is generally believed to be worth.

Really?

The team estimates that Twitter will generate revenues of $114 million to $134 million in 2013. In 2014, Twitter is expected to post revenues of $126 million to $148 million. This is far more conservative than the valuation implied by the company's most recent round of venture capital investment, which puts the company's worth at more than $1 billion.

Continue reading Twitter valuation off by half: NeXt Up Research

Twitter valuation off by half: NeXt Up Research originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Unless you already have a major foothold in the search engine market - or an amazing, disruptive technology that can make the world take notice - there isn't much point in staying. Competing with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is hard enough, even when you're Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) or Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ... and, apparently, when you're IAC/InterActive Corp (NASDAQ: IACI). Barry Diller is ready to give up Jeeves, but only if asked nicely.

Diller's presence in the search space is Ask.com, ranked #4 behind Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing. With a substantial gap between first and second, fourth barely registers at all. Ask.com has only a 2% U.S. market share, according to Hitwise, more than 60 percentage points behind the industry leader.

Continue reading Would anybody buy Jeeves? Ask might go on block

Would anybody buy Jeeves? Ask might go on block originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's tough to take on Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). The search engine behemoth owns 65% of the U.S. search market and has a commanding brand presence. Yet, the software maker up the coast isn't known to give up easily. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has cut a deal with microblogging site Twitter that should give it an edge in the battle to harness data and make it easier to find. A new deal will feed all those tweets into Bing, the Microsoft search engine.

Twitter is giving Microsoft full access to its data, in a deal announced Wednesday. Bing will provide search functionality for Twitter that you won't find in Google, which seems to have been outbid for the rights to the "tweet-stream." Under the deal, Bing will be able to index and display the tweets almost immediately as they are posted.

Continue reading Microsoft now in bed with Twitter

Microsoft now in bed with Twitter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) increased both sales and income in the third quarter. The giant of online search, which issued its earnings release after the bell on Thursday, is saying what a plethora of companies are also saying: the worst of the economic downturn may finally be over.

According to TheStreet.com, sales, after traffic acquisition costs are taken into account, rose about 8%. On an adjusted basis, profit grew almost 20% to $5.89 per share. Our earnings preview article stated that expectations were for $5.38 per share. Google did a good job of giving the world a reason to believe that the rallies seen in the major market indexes should be taken seriously.

Continue reading Google finds growth and cash in the third quarter

Google finds growth and cash in the third quarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) isn't planning to acquire its way into the search engine market. The company's CEO, Steve Ballmer, told Reuters that the company would invest in marketing and hopefully complete a partnership with Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) that is currently involved in a regulatory review. The goal, of course, is to provide at least meaningful competition to search giant and dominant market player Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Expect growth to slow a bit for Microsoft, Ballmer says, as a result of global economic developments. In order to cope with this -- and gear up for a potential battle with Google -- the company has frozen its R&D budget of $9.5 billion, the largest in the industry. With that and a $31.4 billion cash and cash equivalent position, Microsoft certainly has the resources to do battle.

Continue reading Microsoft not looking for search engine acquisitions

Microsoft not looking for search engine acquisitions originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) will be spending $100 million to market its new ... nothing. The internet pioneer who wants out of the tech biz and solely into the media biz (sounds like the Terry Semel days) will spend that sum over the next 15 months to gain new customers to its plethora of web properties and keep them there as long as possible (and charger advertisers appropriately).

What is new about this? From initial review, nothing. Yahoo! has always wanted to gain customers to its extensive internet collection and keep them there. What's so compelling a change that it's worth $100 million? So far, nothing this writer can determine. Just using Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing search services across all its properties is surely not a compelling reason.

Continue reading Yahoo! to spend $100 million on new ad campaign -- and crosses fingers

Yahoo! to spend $100 million on new ad campaign -- and crosses fingers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bing gaining ground on Google

Bing gaining ground on Google originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.