Schmidt: Bing Is Google’s Main Threat
Microsoft’s Bing search engine is seen as the main threat to Google, not Apple nor Facebook, said the company’s chief executive officer Eric Schmidt on Friday.
Schmidt said in an interview posted online that while “Web search is not the only game in town, searching information is what it is all about.”
He said that both Apple and Facebook are well-respected competitors, but Microsoft’s fast growing search engine was the main competition for Google. “Bing is a well-run, highly competitive search engine,” he said.
“We consider neither to be a competitive threat,” Schmidt said, referring to Apple and Facebook.
Bing overtook Yahoo for the first time to become the number two search engine in the US in August, according to tracking firm The Nielsen Co.
While Bing rose to a 13.9 percent share of US search volume in August, Yahoo dropped from 14.6 percent in July to 13.1 percent in August, said Nielsen.
Although Google continues to dominate the search and advertising market with a 65.1 percent market share, Microsoft’s searches have steadily climbed from 10.7 percent in August 2009 to its current share of 13.9 percent in August 2010.
Since striking an advertising partnership in 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo are taking on a joint offensive against Google.
Last month, Microsoft began handling all Yahoo online searches in Canada and the US, and will eventually power all their Internet searches worldwide.
Google competes with Apple, but also has a partnership with the high-tech company that makes iPhones, iPads, iPods and Mac computers, Schmidt said. He resigned from the Apple board when Google dove into the smartphone market with devices running on its popular Android mobile operating system.
He said in an interview with Charlie Rose published in Business Week that a deal to have Google as the default search provider on iPhones was renewed and that the Internet firm provides mapping and other services for Apple gadgets.
Schmidt said that Apple and Google are “two companies I care a lot about” and will remain close.
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