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Are You MSin or MSout?
November 14, 2005
I must admit that when I was approached about writing about the financial aspects of the "Big Three" (Google, Yahoo, & MSN), I was a bit leery about writing about MSN. Simply stated, I don't personally use it. I'm not a Microsoft "hater", but I have fallen out of lust with a lot of their products mainly because of security issues and their disdain for open source innovation. But putting that aside they are the third biggest search engine and worthy of a rundown.
Now on the financial side of things I'll have to focus on what they are doing business-wise instead of stock price etc. because they are apart of the Microsoft juggernaut, and therefore financial information is not easy to come by regarding their division.
The MSin'ers
They are currently ranked as having between 15.5% and 12.6% of the search market depending on which study you go by. That is not a number to be ignored. So my first question is why do those 15.5% to 12.6% of people use MSN? I found an interesting answer in an article by Danny Sullivan that basically states that users of MSN use it because they are there for other reasons.
What's ahead for MSN...
Well, from the recent hoopla it appears that "Windows Live" is what's ahead for MSN in articles that I read from Betanews.com and CNet. The basic rundown is that many of the services now offered through MSN will be moved to Windows Live, leaving MSN apparently more like its counterparts in search - that is relying on paid advertising for its revenues and focusing more on search. For a more detailed rundown of what Microsoft is actually talking about moving over to Windows Live start at this article; it will provide you a good starting point.
One final thing to consider about MSN is that its parent, Microsoft, controls the operating system market for desktops and based on a recent shopping adventure for a new PDA, they are striving for a similar dominance on handheld devices that are ever-increasingly becoming tied to the Internet.
Bottom Line...
MSN is not going anywhere. To ignore them is foolishness especially in light of the fact that they have a big following in Asia in particular. Right now the search world is focused on the U.S. market but this I'm sure will be changing as time goes on. Just look at all of the press that is being generated by Google, Yahoo, and MSN in the race for China's market. I'm not sure how to say "Have a Coke and a Smile" in Korean/Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese but I'm sure it's all of those places, and I'm sure the MSN Butterfly has migrated there as well.
All posts by Brent Sharp
posted by Brent Sharp at November 14, 2005 10:29 AM
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