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Loyalty? Greedy people? What else does Microsoft cashback need to decorate its new service with nothing but bogus.
The announcement was made by the outgoing Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates on advance08, where he said that the plan is to make Live Search the most rewarding commercial search destination on the Web.
Perhaps the purpose is to kill the google-mania, (keeping in view Microsoft’s failed effort to purchase Yahoo). How Microsoft manages to do that depends how much of the consumer volume Live Search generates.
The strategy adopted is the CPC (cost per action); meaning that if consumers click on an advertisement and makes a purchase, they get an amount in return (in from of rebate, deals etc). You Search you Buy and you get paid is what the Live Search is all about.
The Crunch? Well Microsoft generates No Revenue, compared to Google, which generates $20 billion through another model, the CPC (Cost per Click); their idea is simple, every time a consumer clicks on a link, the merchant pays an amount to Google and the consumer gets nothing.
Is it just an attempt to counter Google? Sources decline any such allegation and say that both models will co-exist and users can select whatever suites their needs (We know the obvious).
Keeping aside the effects it can have on Microsoft, the success primarily depends on how much customer satisfaction the service guarantees and what volume migrates to it as a result. But to be honest, the deal (Service, it is a deal for customers for sure) sounds very attractive. Why should Google make way with the $20 billion of the customer’s effort?
According to GigaOM;
- The success of Microsoft remains to be seen; perhaps Microsoft can capitalize on size and online presence, compared to others who have already made a failed effort like iWON.
- The continuous loss of market share in search still remains un-addressed (one primary concern of Microsoft).
Danny Sullivan thinks that it is an effort that will succeed only for those who need a better deal on products they already know they want to buy and this is nothing compared to the core search audience that Microsoft wants to pull away from Google.
Microsoft have failed to capture the Internet search market so far, and I doubt they’ll be able to gain market by real innovation or bringing something like Google’s results on the table. So this is one of the options, that a multi billionaire corporation can try to improve it’s market by greed.
Definitely the only option they have after all the failures, but then we know Microsoft’s strategy to seize every option it has to control the shares. The plan (a desperate measure) is one attempt to rise as a major competitor to Google (bids for Yahoo was another one).