Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has crept up in the last five months insofar as internet search market share gains. Although the gains have been small from a percentage perspective, the fact that competitor Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has lost a half of a percentage point recently at least is giving Yahoo! some hope. Google still stands way above the competition when it comes to internet search market share at 63% compared to Yahoo!'s 21%.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) just can't seem to do any better. It dominates the main market where it competes (internet search) and figured out long ago how to maximize revenue from that market share. It has billions in cash and low debt as a result. This doesn't mean Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) still are not gunning for the leader, though.

Yahoo!'s attempt to foil a Microsoft takeover that started almost a year ago caused damage to both companies. While everyone involved was bitterly fighting with each other, Google just kept on building market share and pumping revenue into its coffers. However, Google's plan to become one of Yahoo!'s largest partners ended in failure late last year due to anti-competitive concerns. Was Yahoo! really wanting to get Google powering some of its vast global searches, or was Yahoo! looking for some kind of Achilles heel within Google?

Some in the U.S. Government may be eying Google as the AT&T of 1982 (Baby Bell breakup) or the Microsoft of 1998 (operating system browser monopoly). Is Google -- even without a Yahoo! partnership and even with keeping Microsoft at bay in search -- a monopolist? It's the capitalist's best question: does a company that serves customer needs so well that it takes so much business really a monopolist?

Circumventing the law to build a monopolist position is one thing. Building some of the best products and recruiting the majority of customers without any legal circumvention is another. Is absolute success a recipe for being labeled as a monopolist? In many circles, yes. Every competitor wants a piece of Google's pie, and they're watching every move it makes. But, if Google continues to build the products people want and use -- and the competition does not or cannot -- Google will become even more powerful that it already is. That's not a monopolistic behavior.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) told the world that it launched its new "Apt" online ad system a few days ago, but was anyone listening? Although Yahoo! called the new system revolutionary, that's also how many of us were pitched the "Project Panama" ad delivery system that turned out to be slightly evolutionary rather than highly revolutionary. What makes Apt different?

Apt is meant to bring intelligence and relevancy to display ads instead of simple text ads, which are Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) strength and which have added billions to its coffers over the years. When I stopped using Yahoo! Mail years ago, it was because of those non-relevant, intrusive display ads about cheap mortgages, credit reports and other junk that had no relevance to my purchasing intentions. Apt is meant to change that.

First up will be participation by a consortium of newspapers, who have been hit hard in recent years as advertisers move their campaigns online and out of print. Apt will make the process of buying and selling display (graphical) ads as easy as any self-service system on the web, according to the company. It's about time -- Yahoo! has one of the largest user bases on the entire web, and making sure that all customer data is mapped in a way to provide relevant advertising was most likely a massive undertaking. That Yahoo! could deliver this after such a turbulent summer and with a slew of executives recently leaving is amazing. Now, we'll see if it's actually utilized by anyone who still believes in Yahoo!'s power.

After Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) walked away from a $40+ billion dollar deal with Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) this past week, competitor Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was very, very relieved. After all, a combined Micro-Hoo would have been a significant competitor (in a best-case scenario) to Google. To help dissuade both parties to make a deal, Google ran a two-week test on Yahoo! to supply the competitor with its own advertising system. The test went well.

Now that Yahoo! has proved that is could one day dump its search technology and outsource that piece of its business to Google, Google executives are looking for that exact scenario. They believe it will help prevent another attempt by Microsoft to purchase Yahoo! in the future. They are probably right -- if Google were to become one of Yahoo!'s largest partners, there would be issues with Microsoft buying Yahoo! now or in the future, from a regulatory perspective.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that "We have been talking to Yahoo and we are very excited to be working with them ... we share a lot of values with them" in his remarks at yesterday's annual Google shareholder's meeting at Google's Mountain View, Ca. headquarters. Brian added that a potential deal with Yahoo! was "not about scuttling (the deal)." Hogwash -- I say that was exactly why the Google-Yahoo! test was performed. Look for a Yahoo!-Google search advertising partnership in the very near future, folks.