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Reuters is burning up the wires with this story:
Microsoft will introduce a search engine better than Google in six months in the United States and Britain followed by Europe, its European president said on Wednesday.
“What we’re saying is that in six months’ time we’ll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google,” said Neil Holloway, Microsoft president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“The quality of our search and the relevance of our search from a solution perspective to the consumer will be more relevant,” he told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.
“Relevance” being “more relevant” sounds like a hard-to-quantify metric. From a “solution perspective.” One might have a higher regard for Mr. Holloway’s grasp of the situation if he had mentioned adCenter which does have a fighting chance to steal a march on Google.
On the other hand, since the story is from Europe, perhaps there was a translation difficulty. That certainly must be the case in this report that Forbes is carrying today - Gates Sees Google Honeymoon Ending:
Bill Gates has told Forbes Poland that Google’s honeymoon will go on for no more than two years.
OK, whatever; but then we are astounded to learn:
Gates said that Google has an excellent browser but said that Microsoft is working on something better. “You will see our response still this year,” he told Forbes Poland. Microsoft is underestimated as far as the browser is concerned.
I guess so if a “Google browser” rates higher.
March 4th, 2006 at 8:22 AM
[...] Microsoft’s EMEA President Neil Holloway received quite a bit of unfavorable press for his boast, reported on Wednesday, that MSN Search was going to have a better search engine than Google in six months. Yesterday, Mr. Holloway clarified his reported remarks in a comment on John Batelle’s search blog (see also [1]) and there was a similar clarification by Ken Moss, Microsoft’s General Manager of Web Search, at the MSN Search Weblog. The gist is that Microsoft wants everyone to know that they are serious about the search engine game and are working towards the objective of building the world’s best. Fair enough and I presume that includes adCenter as well, because that’s where the money lives. Filed under Coopetition, MSN, Google, MSN Search, adCenter Listen to this article [Permalink] [...]
July 26th, 2006 at 11:10 AM
[...] Via email, I also received a suggestion that perhaps Microsoft is saving their fireworks for a gala celebration when one of the bigger name Windows Live products ships, say Windows Live Search, which has been promised shortly. That’s certainly a possibility although hoarding all the good news leaves you open to complaints about “old news” when you finally get around to the combined launch. Filed under Beta and CTP, General Business, Windows Live OneCare, Windows Live, Marketing, Windows Live Expo, Windows Live Favorites, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Custom Domains, Windows Live Search, Windows Live Toolbar, Microsoft, Windows Live Gallery [Permalink] [...]