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SMF Blogs > Technology > May 2009
Microsoft Unveils New Search Engine to Rival Google and Yahoo - Bing

 

 

 

According to Barron's online blog article by Eric Savitz. As expected Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer today unveiled Bing, the company’s new search engine.

Ballmer made the announcement in Carlsbad, California at D: All Things Digital, the Wall Street Journal tech conference.

Ballmer was interviewed on stage by the WSJ’s Wall Mossberg. I’m blogging it live. 8:11 a.m. On the economy: People generally agree that this is a different recession than other recession, caused by delveraging of the economy.

Hit 330% of GDP, much higher than before the Depression. Bunch of money has to essetially come out of the economy. Was funding cards, flat panel displays, PCs. IT is 50% of capital spend in U.S. businesses. I like to remind people: Recession implies you go down, you go up. This is money that has to come out of the economy.

We are really resetting as the economy. Think of today as normal, rather than yesterday as normal. (I would note that Ballmer has been making this very point repeatedly in recent public appearances.) In 1873, bubble burst in Vienna, got worldwide delveraging, took 50 years for Chicago real-estate prices to recover. 8:14 a.m.

Ballmer says they are in this stuff for the long term. But holders are not sure whether today is normal, or yesterday was normal. We flattened out our cost base, really means shaking up future product investment scheme. Still over $9 billion a year in R&D. Retrace slightly long-temr versus short-term. 8:15 a.m. You can do a lot new for that, but do less new.

And tail projects that get cut. But major ramp ups in areas like mobile and search. 8:16 a.m. Walt is asking Ballmer about a poll the WSJ took before the conference. A slide on share of search, asking the public what they prefer.

They are third at 8% in single digits in this measure, after Google and Yahoo. What are biggest issues for you? Get great people do work on like seven big things. Really getting great people, and then figuring out where you should or should not interlock strategies.

Spending more time on that then being the search guy and the mobile guy. We have great talent, we hire well, we’re not afraid to change, upgrade talent. 8:20 a.m. Seven big things? Ballmer says we obviously where we are in search, we want to do better. Mobile area is red hot, and its all nascent, nobody sells very much.

Apple, BlackBerry, us. Contrast units to PC. In five years, this will be market that has tripled or quadrupled. PC business remains big. There is vibrance in all of our children. 8:22 a.m. Another slide from the poll. How consumers choose a search engine. “I like results”, “out of habit,” “I trust the brand” are the top 3. 8:24 a.m.

Next, we get a video from Microsoft. Ballmer says there were times in their history they felt like history. It takes persistence. Don’t always get things right. Video gives people flavor for how they get things right in search. 8:25 a.m. The video has a goofy Star Wars theme. And here comes the debut of the new name: Bing. 8:27 a.m.

Video over. Ballmer is having fun saying “Bing.” 8:27 a.m. Why Bing?

Ballmer says why any name? Most important thing is we have a brand that means portal, working on extensions for Windows and Office for the cloud. But we wanted something that unambiguously said search. If you don’t have a name, something people can talk about, if always just embedded component of a portal…this is just about search.

I want people to think there is an alternative, it has a clear name. I am not the creative side of life. Short matters. Short URL. Has been proven that being able to verb-up is useful. Works globally, no negative connotation.

To grow share, we don’t have to capture imagination of everybody, but have to start build brand equity. 8:31 a.m. Walt wants to be sure it was not named after Bing Crosby. Ballmer says it is short, easy to say. Had to secure the trademark, the URLs. More likely Dave Bing than Bing Crosby. 8:32 a.m. Now the demo, with the help of Microsoft online exec Yusef Mehdi. Live version goes up on June 3. 8:33 a.m. Demo.

Start with basic search. Search: Cannes Film Festival. There is best match feature at the top of the page. The official, authoritative site. Second thing includes specific data, in this case who won awards at Cannes. 8:35 a.m. Ballmer says most frequent clicked on thing on search page is back button: 25%. 8:36 a.m.

Customer service numbers for companies show up right at the top of the page. 8:37 a.m. If you want fresh data: type in flight number, you get fresh data on gates, departure time. 8:37 a.m. Can hover over links, get previews on any searches. Mining knowledge from Wikipedia also. 8:38 a.m. Next, helping with research and taks.

Search for Taylor Swift. Explorer Pane on left side, with quick tabs put together by humans and computers. Lyrics, images with infinite scroll. Can go to fan club, buy tickets. Ballmer says question is how much can we do by human, and how much by computer. Computationally will understand that Taylor Swift is an artist.

They did a test with jill Sobule, and same stuff came up. For video search, you can hover in the search screen and watch video. 8:41 a.m. Search for San Diego. Get map, list of attractions, weather including 10-day forecast. Hotel listings. Events. 8:42 a.m. Search for Lakers, get all sorts of information. 8:43 a.m. Search for goods: say Canon camera.

Get quick tabs with related searches. Also can shop for that product. Mossberg said it looks like an Amazon page. But it is algorithmic search, not paid. (Although there are paid ads on the right.) Can click through to user reviews from multiple sites around the Web. Algorithmically collecting user comments. All commerce sites.

Expert Reviews. Also can compare prices. And cash back feature, which is not new, although more weaved into the site. Save about 6% on the camera. 8:45 a.m. Flights from San Diego to SF. Use Farecast, which they own, get list of flights, now will be part of Bing Travel.

Can sort by price, time, etc. Also can see estimates on whether fares will rise or fall. All of this, remember, is still in the search engine.  

Posted: 5/28/2009 10:48:29 AM by StockMarketFunding | with 0 comments


Toyota rolls out new Prius amid hybrid price war

 

 

 


TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota rolled out the revamped Prius on Monday, and said it already had 80,000 advance orders in Japan for the remodeled hybrid amid intensifying competition with Honda's rival offering, the Insight.

The world's largest automaker said it aims to sell up to 400,000 units globally a year of the car. "We are resting the future of cars in this model," said incoming president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, who drove the new model onto a stage at a packed Tokyo showroom.

Both Toyoda's presence and the new Prius are symbolic of Toyota Motor Corp.'s pursuit of a turnaround from its worst annual loss since its 1937 founding. The Prius, now in its third generation since its 1997 introduction, is the best-selling gas-electric hybrid in the world, racking up a cumulative 1.256 million units sold in more than 40 nations and regions.

The new Prius will be sold in 80 nations and regions, Toyoda said. But now Toyota faces a challenge from Honda Motor Co., whose more cheaply priced Insight has sold briskly since it was introduced in Japan in February.

In April, the Insight ranked as the top-selling vehicle in Japan -- the first time a hybrid clinched that spot. Toyota said its Japan prices for the Prius would start at 2.05 million yen, or about $21,600, less than its predecessor model's Japan base price.

But in an unusual move aimed at competing against the Insight, Toyota also said it will continue to sell the current Prius in Japan -- mainly to corporate and rental customers -- and cut its price to 1.89 million yen, the same price as the Insight. In Japan, Toyota is hoping to sell 10,000 of the new Prius a month, and an additional 2,000 of the cheaper old-style Prius.

The Japanese government is offering incentives to encourage people to buy green cars, which is expected to help the Insight and Prius sales here. Christopher J. Richter, senior analyst with Calyon Capital Markets Asia in Tokyo, said Toyota may be making a mistake by competing with Insight's price because the Prius is a much bigger car than the Insight compact and gets better mileage.

"Given that the two vehicles are different animals, I think that probably isn't the way to go," he said. "It probably damages the Prius brand image by trying to chase after what is an inferior car in price."

Richter also noted that Toyota faces some challenges in selling the Prius not only because of the competition from the Insight but because of the global slowdown and a decline in oil prices. Ravaged by a global slump, tight credit in the critical U.S. market and the strong yen, Toyota racked up a larger-than-expected 436.94 billion yen ($4.4 billion) loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, a dramatic reversal from the record profit of 1.72 trillion yen it earned the previous year.

Toyota had already given the U.S. prices for the 2010 Prius -- starting at $22,000, unchanged from the base price for the 2009 model. It is also promising a more basic U.S. model as well for later this year starting at $21,000. The Insight, which is smaller than the Prius, carries a lower manufacturer's suggested retail price of $19,800 for the base model in the U.S. Honda has sold 19,492 Insights in Japan since it went on sale in February, and 2,665 in the U.S. since March. "We've come up with a price that we think is close to what will make people happy," Toyoda said.

Toyoda, 53, was tapped in January to take the helm at the world's biggest automaker, the first time in 14 years it has turned to the charisma of its founding roots for top leadership -- mainly to bring employees and affiliates together and steer the automaker through deep troubles. The new Prius gets a combined 50 miles per gallon, compared with 46 mpg for the 2009 model, according to Toyota. It does even better under Japanese government testing standards.

Hybrids, by going back and forth between a gasoline engine and electric motor, tend to offer better mileage in slow-speed and stop-and-go driving common on Japanese streets, rather than on highways -- just the reverse of conventional cars. Toyota is promising 38 kilometers per liter, which converts to 90 miles per gallon, in Japan, for the latest Prius.

Underlining its determination to compete with the Insight, Toyota showed a clip from its Japan TV ad at Monday's Prius event, which showed Superman zooming around a city before returning to his human form as Clark Kent, the reporter, with a scoop about the car's low price.

Toyoda hinted there may be a wait for the Prius. "I already ordered mine," Toyoda said. "If you want yours before the end of the year, go rush to your dealer."  

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Posted: 5/18/2009 7:19:00 AM by StockMarketFunding | with 0 comments


AT&T Near $2.5 Billion Deal to Buy Most Alltel Assets

 

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AT&T is reportedly near a deal to buy most of Verizon's Alltel divestitures for $2.5 billion, CNBC has learned from sources close to the situation.

The assets are divided into 24 geographical clusters, 18 of which will be purchased by AT&T (NYSE: T).

The remaining six clusters are still being sought by private equity firms and U.S. Cellular. The assets include 2.1 million former Alltel subscribers across 22 states.

The clusters are being sold for 5 times Ebitda. Verizon (NYSE: vz) was required to divest some of the properties when it acquired Alltel early this year.

Verizon bought Alltel for $28.1 billion in January and surpassed AT&T as the biggest U.S. mobile service when it did.  

 

Prepare yourself for the "New Economy"


 
Posted: 5/8/2009 2:39:11 PM by StockMarketFunding | with 0 comments


Google: American Phenomenon and Anit-trust Target

 

 

 

Google is more than a fabulously successful company -- it is a cultural phenomenon facing increasing U.S. government scrutiny despite its chief executive's campaign support for President Barack Obama.

The No. 1 Internet search company and provider of text-based search ads is finding size attracts attention from antitrust enforcers still party to a settlement with personal computer operating system giant Microsoft Corp. "In some ways people think of them as potentially becoming the next Microsoft," attorney Beau Buffier, with Shearman and Sterling LLP, said of Google.

With high tech one of the few industries where the United States remains the world leader, care needs to be taken to ensure that the market remains competitive, said Evan Stewart of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. "The point is that if we're going to maintain that competitive position, it can't be because we allow one entity to become a complete monopolist," Stewart said.

In one investigation, the Justice Department is looking at Google's settlement with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers that would allow it to create a massive, online digital library. That deal has come under criticism because it assigns Google access to so-called orphan works, those whose copyright owners are unknown. Libraries also fear the product will become a must-have and extraordinarily expensive.

Amendments to the deal, such as excluding orphan works or spelling out pricing, could go a long way toward defusing these concerns, critics have said. And the Federal Trade Commission has reportedly opened an inquiry into whether the ties between the boards of Apple Inc and Google Inc violate antitrust laws. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson are directors of both companies.

"Neither Microsoft nor IBM was ever the cultural phenomena that Google is," said Sandy Litvack of the law firm Hogan & Hartson. Litvack headed the Justice Department team that was prepared last year to fight Google's since-abandoned deal with Internet rival Yahoo Inc. Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said competition on the Internet was just a click away.

"We understand that any time a company is successful, there's a certain degree of scrutiny that comes with the territory." BOOKS AND BOARDS Google and Apple could be construed as rivals, experts say, since the iPhone has been a huge hit for Apple while Google's Android operating system is used on T-Mobile's G1 smartphone.

Stewart said he fully expected that if regulators decided that Schmidt and Levinson's presence on both boards was inappropriate, that the men would step down from one without a fight. "These are fixable," said Stewart. For its part, Google has shown little appetite for a fight with regulators. It walked away from a search advertising partnership with Yahoo in November when the Justice Department indicated it planned to oppose the plan in court.

Google had earlier succeeded in buying rival DoubleClick despite concerns that the deal would give Google too much power in the search advertising market. "It's not that Google has necessarily done anything wrong," said Bert Foer, head of the American Antitrust Institute. "It's not that it's bad or poorly intentioned," said Foer.

"It's playing such a large role in the flow of information and has so much free cash to play with and so many creative and aggressive ideas that it presents potential problems regarding... privacy and competition." Some Washington cynics had predicted that Google might get an easier ride because Google's Schmidt was an outspoken supporter of Obama during his election campaign. But before her nomination to head the Justice Department's antitrust division, Christine Varney said that Google was a company to watch because of its market power, said Foer.

"That's a danger when you get too close to the crown, the crown is put in a position where it has to assiduously maintain its lack of bias," Foer said. "The Obama people can't do any favors for Google, especially an administration that said it was not going to be bought by anybody."  

 

Prepare yourself for the "New Economy"


 
Posted: 5/7/2009 4:46:58 PM by StockMarketFunding | with 0 comments


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