Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
nytimes.com
Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
1–10 of 48 posts
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#2"But [Bing] has more value to a buyer that could bring it traffic."
If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can? Whatever other company you cite, can its putative advantage compete with owning the default browser? (Wikipedia still has IE in the lead [1], though an ever-thinner one.) Even mighty Facebook can't really compete with that sort of advantage.
Honest question, interested in the answers.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#3"But [Bing] has more value to a buyer that could bring it traffic." If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can ? Whatever other company you cite, can its putative advantage compete with owning the default browser? (Wikipedia still has IE in the lead [1], though an ever-thinner one.) Even mighty Facebook can't really compete with that sort of advantage. Honest question, interested in the answers. [1]: http://en.wi…
If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can?
Facebook. Even though IE is still in the lead (for now), everyone "googles" and "facebooks" their way through the internet. No one "microsofts" anything.
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#4"A sale would be a boon for Microsoft’s investors. . . the unit would be worth about $11 billion."
So a boon to investors is a short-term sale that's the equivalent of 4.6% of MSFT's market cap (235b)?
And in exchange surrender an asset that's fundamental to their mobile strategy (with NOKIA blowing in the wind towards MSFT) and strategic in distracting Google from eating their primary lunch?
I am a proponent of FOCUS but this article seems shortsighted.
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#5"Facebook, or even Apple, might make a better home for Bing. "
At this point, the article stopped making sense. Yes, bing is draining money, but why on earth would Facebook want to buy something they already have a pretty good partnership with? There are other investments that make way more strategic sense for both Facebook and Apple.
" Apple might even be interested, given its growing online ambitions, evidenced by its consideration of a bid for Hulu. "
Apple wants to buy a company that streams TV (which ties in pretty well with their hardware strategy), therefore they want to get into everything web? Again, I don't see the logic here....
(Disclaimer: MSFT Employee)
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#6"But [Bing] has more value to a buyer that could bring it traffic." If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can ? Whatever other company you cite, can its putative advantage compete with owning the default browser? (Wikipedia still has IE in the lead [1], though an ever-thinner one.) Even mighty Facebook can't really compete with that sort of advantage. Honest question, interested in the answers. [1]: http://en.wi…
If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can? Facebook. Even though IE is still in the lead (for now), everyone "googles" and "facebooks" their way through the internet. No one "microsofts" anything.
There are quite a few people who aren't so tech-savvy that unknowingly use Bing because it's the default in IE. I'm guessing they're the majority of that 27%.
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#7"But [Bing] has more value to a buyer that could bring it traffic." If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can ? Whatever other company you cite, can its putative advantage compete with owning the default browser? (Wikipedia still has IE in the lead [1], though an ever-thinner one.) Even mighty Facebook can't really compete with that sort of advantage. Honest question, interested in the answers. [1]: http://en.wi…
If Microsoft can't bring it traffic... who can? Facebook. Even though IE is still in the lead (for now), everyone "googles" and "facebooks" their way through the internet. No one "microsofts" anything.
Trouble is Facebook doesn't have $11B. Would be interesting to see Facebook paired with a decent search technology, though. With Google+ on the horizon, it can't be far from their minds.
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#8They should sell it off to Yahoo. That'd be rich.
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#9Very well done, Google PR team! Almost fooled me;)
Re: Bing Becomes a Distraction for Microsoft
#10"A sale would be a boon for Microsoft’s investors. . . the unit would be worth about $11 billion." So a boon to investors is a short-term sale that's the equivalent of 4.6% of MSFT's market cap (235b)? And in exchange surrender an asset that's fundamental to their mobile strategy (with NOKIA blowing in the wind towards MSFT) and strategic in distracting Google from eating their primary lunch? I am a proponent of FOCU…
Oh well, why would you care about long-term strategy if your only intent is just to short sell those MSFT shares quickly.
It's a link-bait. If GOOG can give away almost everything for free to distract their competitors and protect their core revenue (search and ads), then why shouldn't MSFT lose some $$ to get some share of the $40 Billion industry with a projected growth rate of around 10-20%.