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It seems clear to me that what Schmidt meant with the comment is that the industry is volatile enough that some commentators predict an upset. This is obviously

It seems clear to me that what Schmidt meant with the comment is that the industry is volatile enough that some commentators predict an upset. This is obviously to counter claims that Google is too big or too powerful, which is also obviously what the hearings are really about. That's not a "bald-faced lie." Saying Schmidt lied to Congress is the bald-faced lie.

Permit 15y ago
Has the search engine been volatile at all over the last five years? It seems to me to be extremely stable compared to other areas of the web. Eric Schmidt knows that Bing isn't going to be eclipsing Google any time soon, I think that's what the author was getting at.
- joebadmo 15y ago
  I don't know what you consider volatile, but Bing launched in 2009 and now has over 30% marketshare. Yahoo also quit search. Other challengers keep popping up too (Wolfram Alpha, Blekko, Duck Duck Go, etc.). Anyway, I found it clear that Schmidt wasn't saying that he thought Bing was going to beat Google. He said there are others who think that. You can call that misleading or slippery, but it's by definition not a bald-faced lie.
  - barista 15y ago
    Most of that 30%was bought. Organic growth is incredibly slow. Google has an incredible stringhold on this market and more so on the mobile.
    - Steko 15y ago
      If Bing: (1) gets another 4% from Google over the next year due to IE defaults and advertising; (2) gets another 2-4% from the FB deal; (3) signs a deal with Apple to become default on iOS (2/3 of mobile = 5%+) and desktop Safari (4%+). That could potentially put them around the same market share as Google. None of those propositions are crazy either.
  - Zev 15y ago
    Wolfram Alpha isn't a search engine, and doesn't DDG use Yahoo/Bing's API for some things? One major player going away, another losing something like 9 Billion, and one or two minor players stepping up isn't exactly a volatile industry.
  - calbear81 15y ago
    The 30% market share was not truly earned. If IE wasn't pre-installed and the default search engine in Windows and there wasn't MSN portal traffic (Bing technically launched in 2009 but before Bing, it was Live Search and MSN Search), the number would be MUCH lower. You also have to consider the 30% includes buying the rights to power Yahoo! search AT A LOSS contributing to massive red ink all over the division.
    - eli 15y ago
      So what? 30% is 30%
  - jroseattle 15y ago
    30% marketshare? Source, please. Most sources I follow -- and from colleagues that work at both Google and Bing -- Bing is operating in the mid to upper teens as a percentage of the market.
    - joebadmo 15y ago
      First result for "bing market share": http://www.businessinsider.com/bing-tops-30-in-us-2011-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/bing-tops-30-in-us-2011-4 It's referring to Bing and Yahoo traffic, since Bing is the backend for Yahoo search now.
      - jroseattle 15y ago
        From the article: "Since Microsoft entered the market, Google has nearly doubled its share at both companies' expense, but for the last year or so Bing has gained a few fractions of a point every month -- at least in the U.S. Worldwide, Google still dominates with between 80% and 90% share, depending on who's measuring." Not to pick on the result, but BusinessInsider is a poor choice as a reference. At least they point to results from Experian.
  - wanorris 15y ago
    Yes, Bing has gained marketshare. But over that time period, Google has lost only 2 tenths of a share point. For Bing to pass Google, they would suddenly have to lose a minimum of a whopping 15 share points after a decade or so of share growth and two years of stable share. As far as I'm aware, there is nothing to suggest that it is at all likely that Bing is going to start taking large amounts of share from Google after no record of having done so to date. Do you disagree?
    - diminish 15y ago
      On the other side, Bing needs to bring more advertisers to their adcenter, to get higher ppc prices for higher revenues. Google benefits from much more advertiser presence as a result of search market share. Or if advertisers open up their ads using robads standards, bing and other Google competitors would have a higher monetization; see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3022998 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3022998 for rsobad
- hugh3 15y ago
  It's a bit hard to call any statement of the form "X could happen" a lie unless there's some physical law preventing X from happening.
  - Permit 15y ago
    You're definitely right, and I don't agree with the author regarding the idea that Eric was outright lying. I just don't think the search engine market has been very volatile lately. As others noted, Bing's increasing market share comes largely from cannibalizing its partner's market share (Yahoo). I just don't see Google in position to lose much more share to Bing is all.
- sandieman 15y ago
  Only if he mentioned duckduckgo!

Permit 15y ago

Has the search engine been volatile at all over the last five years? It seems to me to be extremely stable compared to other areas of the web. Eric Schmidt knows that Bing isn't going to be eclipsing Google any time soon, I think that's what the author was getting at.

joebadmo 15y ago
I don't know what you consider volatile, but Bing launched in 2009 and now has over 30% marketshare. Yahoo also quit search. Other challengers keep popping up too (Wolfram Alpha, Blekko, Duck Duck Go, etc.). Anyway, I found it clear that Schmidt wasn't saying that he thought Bing was going to beat Google. He said there are others who think that. You can call that misleading or slippery, but it's by definition not a bald-faced lie.
- barista 15y ago
  Most of that 30%was bought. Organic growth is incredibly slow. Google has an incredible stringhold on this market and more so on the mobile.
  - Steko 15y ago
    If Bing: (1) gets another 4% from Google over the next year due to IE defaults and advertising; (2) gets another 2-4% from the FB deal; (3) signs a deal with Apple to become default on iOS (2/3 of mobile = 5%+) and desktop Safari (4%+). That could potentially put them around the same market share as Google. None of those propositions are crazy either.
- Zev 15y ago
  Wolfram Alpha isn't a search engine, and doesn't DDG use Yahoo/Bing's API for some things? One major player going away, another losing something like 9 Billion, and one or two minor players stepping up isn't exactly a volatile industry.
- calbear81 15y ago
  The 30% market share was not truly earned. If IE wasn't pre-installed and the default search engine in Windows and there wasn't MSN portal traffic (Bing technically launched in 2009 but before Bing, it was Live Search and MSN Search), the number would be MUCH lower. You also have to consider the 30% includes buying the rights to power Yahoo! search AT A LOSS contributing to massive red ink all over the division.
  - eli 15y ago
    So what? 30% is 30%
- jroseattle 15y ago
  30% marketshare? Source, please. Most sources I follow -- and from colleagues that work at both Google and Bing -- Bing is operating in the mid to upper teens as a percentage of the market.
  - joebadmo 15y ago
    First result for "bing market share": http://www.businessinsider.com/bing-tops-30-in-us-2011-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/bing-tops-30-in-us-2011-4 It's referring to Bing and Yahoo traffic, since Bing is the backend for Yahoo search now.
    - jroseattle 15y ago
      From the article: "Since Microsoft entered the market, Google has nearly doubled its share at both companies' expense, but for the last year or so Bing has gained a few fractions of a point every month -- at least in the U.S. Worldwide, Google still dominates with between 80% and 90% share, depending on who's measuring." Not to pick on the result, but BusinessInsider is a poor choice as a reference. At least they point to results from Experian.
- wanorris 15y ago
  Yes, Bing has gained marketshare. But over that time period, Google has lost only 2 tenths of a share point. For Bing to pass Google, they would suddenly have to lose a minimum of a whopping 15 share points after a decade or so of share growth and two years of stable share. As far as I'm aware, there is nothing to suggest that it is at all likely that Bing is going to start taking large amounts of share from Google after no record of having done so to date. Do you disagree?
  - diminish 15y ago
    On the other side, Bing needs to bring more advertisers to their adcenter, to get higher ppc prices for higher revenues. Google benefits from much more advertiser presence as a result of search market share. Or if advertisers open up their ads using robads standards, bing and other Google competitors would have a higher monetization; see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3022998 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3022998 for rsobad
hugh3 15y ago
It's a bit hard to call any statement of the form "X could happen" a lie unless there's some physical law preventing X from happening.
- Permit 15y ago
  You're definitely right, and I don't agree with the author regarding the idea that Eric was outright lying. I just don't think the search engine market has been very volatile lately. As others noted, Bing's increasing market share comes largely from cannibalizing its partner's market share (Yahoo). I just don't see Google in position to lose much more share to Bing is all.
sandieman 15y ago
Only if he mentioned duckduckgo!