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New Search Strategy for Firefox

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#81

Post by sroerick »

Mozilla is making some major moves these days. They've ditched Google as their main revenue source, partnering with Tor and Yahoo.

Yahoo is angling to be a digital magazine, which I like as a business model much more than Google's.

Firefox is making a strong case for itself as the privacy centric browser.

I still remember when Firefox started gaining market share. Even non-tech-savvy people were getting firefox, because IE was so bad for security, and so hard to maintain.

Excited to see what the next few months brings.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#82

Post by throwawaymoz »

dragonwriter wrote: post #76
throwawaymoz wrote: post #67

(throwaway account) While I believe the party line is probably true ("Mozilla decided not to go with Google"), it's also disingenuous. Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable. That's why they switched focus to FirefoxOS; they thou…

> For the record, Google made billions off being Firefox's default search engine. They paid Firefox $300mil a year for three years, but that was only a small fraction of how much Google profited from Firefox searches. Not sure if it's still true, but three years ago they made more from Firefox than they did from Chrome. Google doesn't really make money from Firefox or Chrome (the browser), per se (except insofar as C…

Don't forget that Chrome users are more tech savvy on average than Firefox users, meaning they click ads less.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#83

Post by riffraff »

kibwen wrote: post #72

It's always seemed as though Google's and Mozilla's relationship would weaken over the years, though honestly I expected Bing rather than Yahoo to be the one to step up and fill Google's shoes. Also surprising is that apparently Mozilla was the one to initiate the switch. As a Firefox user, all in all I'm rather pleased. I've just tried a few of my typical searches on Yahoo and though the expected links aren't the to…

isn't yahoo search powered by bing anyway?

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#84

Post by pillowpants2 »

DevX101 wrote: post #63

This is why Google built Chrome. Google's strategy has been to remove the layers between the user's intent to search and Google's own server. Every intermediate layer that Google does not control is a risk to their business. When viewed through these lens, many of the seemingly ancillary Google business units start to make strategic sense. Android (control the device), Chrome (control the browser), Fiber (control the…

When viewed through these lens, many of the seemingly ancillary Google business units start to make strategic sense. Android (control the device), Chrome (control the browser), Fiber (control the tubes).

You forgot Google Glass (control the eyes).

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#85

Post by jonknee »

mythmon_ wrote: post #18
victor27 wrote: post #14

Curious - do people here view the Yahoo! Search Experience to be better or worse than Google Search?

This is kind of a moot point. If you read the article carefully, you'll notice that Yahoo will be bringing "a new, re-imagined Yahoo search experience to Firefox users in the U.S"

That's just corporate non-sense. It will be Bing's results with a different stylesheet and different set of ads.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#86

Post by gcp »

throwawaymoz wrote: post #67

(throwaway account) While I believe the party line is probably true ("Mozilla decided not to go with Google"), it's also disingenuous. Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable. That's why they switched focus to FirefoxOS; they thou…

They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable

Source? Sounds like total bullshit because the default search provider obviously gets traffic, which drives ad revenue, from the browser vendors. Why would they need alternate revenue streams, let alone those be required by a search vendor? That does not make any sense.

However, they went with Yahoo! because Google wasn't willing to pay what Mozilla needed. The whole "Mozilla picked Yahoo! to enable choice" has been tweeted by every Mozillian I know (and said multiple times in this thread), but it's a meaningless statement

It is possible Mozilla choose Yahoo because they outbid Google. But economically, that seems questionable. What is not questionable is that this change will drive a lot of users to alternate search engines.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#87

Post by nnethercote »

throwawaymoz wrote: post #67

(throwaway account) While I believe the party line is probably true ("Mozilla decided not to go with Google"), it's also disingenuous. Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable. That's why they switched focus to FirefoxOS; they thou…

> Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before.

I was at the internal Mozilla meeting where this was announced (about an hour ago), and Chris Beard (Mozilla's CEO) said very clearly that all the options this time around were economically stronger than the current Google deal.

Maybe that's not true and you have better information than I do, but since you're posting anonymously it's hard to know.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#88

Post by mbrubeck »

todesschaf wrote: post #79
mbrubeck wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compared to the previous deal (where Google was the global default), the new deal also leaves Mozilla more free to pursue different partnerships worldwide. For example, Yandex is now the default Firefox search engine in Russia (as it was three years ago, before the global Google deal).

You mean Yandex in Russia. Baidu is China :)

Fixed, thanks.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#89

Post by modeless »

nnethercote wrote: post #74
kibwen wrote: post #72

It's always seemed as though Google's and Mozilla's relationship would weaken over the years, though honestly I expected Bing rather than Yahoo to be the one to step up and fill Google's shoes. Also surprising is that apparently Mozilla was the one to initiate the switch. As a Firefox user, all in all I'm rather pleased. I've just tried a few of my typical searches on Yahoo and though the expected links aren't the to…

The new Yahoo search that's coming soon is meant to be much better. So I suggest you reserve your judgment until then :)

Is it still based on Bing?

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#90

Post by Yoric »

throwawaymoz wrote: post #67

(throwaway account) While I believe the party line is probably true ("Mozilla decided not to go with Google"), it's also disingenuous. Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable. That's why they switched focus to FirefoxOS; they thou…

Is there any monetary reason to pick many search providers instead of just Google? This is possible, your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, I believe that not going with Google is a very sound strategy. If Mozilla has the choice between an alliance with a competitor with overwhelming firepower and whose clear interest is making Mozilla obsolete and an underdog with an interest in growing along with Mozilla, why pick the competitor?

Also, regarding your comment on FirefoxOS: I don't know where you heard that Mozilla expected to support itself through Firefox OS / Firefox Marketplace revenue, but I never heard anybody claiming this (I work at Mozilla). The main reason to introduce Firefox OS was (and still is) to promote openness on the mobile world (i.e. "wrestle duoplogy from Apple and Google"), just as Mozilla/Phoenix/Firefox was introduced to promote openness on the web (i.e. "wrestle monopoly from Microsoft").

Edit: clarifications.

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