MarketingVOX: Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told the Financial Times that Microsoft’s next big challenge, after the launch?of Vista,?is to address the threat posed by advertising-supported business models such as Google’s.
“Really getting a clear direction on how we embrace, compete, extend advertising as a business model?- that is a primary issue for me and it extends across the product line,” he said.
Ballmer said the first three products to focus on after Vista were: search, search, and search. Says Ballmer, “There may be blockbuster [deals], but the number-one thing for us is our own development and let’s call them technology acquisitions.”
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, Microsoft’s market share of search continues to fall; it accounts for 8 percent of US searchs versus Google’s 51 percent.
Microsoft has failed to build up a powerful network of advertisers to feed the traffic generated by its engine, and has also failed to sufficiently invest in its own search technology.
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- adCenter Labs Shows off ‘Breakthroughs,’ Video Hyperlinks
- Google Share of U.S. Searches Surpasses 47%
- Microsoft Behaviorally Targets Ads with Hotmail, Search Data
