Google being pressured from all sides
Not that it means anything in the short-term, and whether there are any significant implications or spin-offs in the long-term is anybody’s guess, but Google is finally appearing to be less than perfect. Microsoft is finalizing their $6billion deal with aQuantive and will be re-organizing the company around the deal. The re-organization will not only align aQuantive and the tools that came with the company, it will include other advertising related acquisitions like Massive Inc. and ScreeTonic. This gives Microsoft some legitimate clout in online advertising, something that was questionable prior to these recent deals, and it has been suggested the software company will leap-frog into the position of number 2 in the world of online advertising, moving ahead of online portal Yahoo!
Speaking of Yahoo!, they seem to be on a better path. Having seen former CEO Jerry Yang recently depart, the company quickly found itself the key to many different rumours, from purchasing MySpace, merging into Microsoft, or being bought by eBay. The release of the ACSI ratings puts Yahoo! as the number one portal on the Internet. While Yahoo! struggles to compete with Google as a search engine and online advertiser, Google needs to make significant gains as a portal, and this result is definitely a blow to those efforts. With a range of Internet properties that is virtually unmatched, Yahoo! is continuing to open up its operations through API’s, expand the offerings available through its 500-million-user-strong portal, and seems to have a little more (much-needed) stability.
Yahoo! and Microsoft have used their Email services and the accompanying userbases, both of which pre-date Google’s Gmail, as leverage. While both Yahoo! and Microsoft continue to lag in search and online advertising, Gmail’s growth is probably an area of concern for Google. When released, the free Email service was lightyears ahead of Yahoo! and Microsoft, but the adoption seems to be fairly limited. With the two competitors having released updated versions of their websites, there is little (if any) advantage to switching Email providers. Personally, Yahoo! seems to be the champion in the category, not only with the features and ease of use that their Email service provides, but also with respect to storage, a huge factor in choosing a provider. With Gmail sitting around 2.8GB of storage, Microsoft is in the process of increasing storage to 5GB, and Yahoo! gives unlimited storage. By keeping Email users, it makes it easier to coerce these users to their own services, and provides a tool in the battle for search and online advertising dominance. Overall, these three competing will only mean good things for users.