Google search gets pushed out of Motorola’s Chinese phones. Will Bing be taken more seriously after this?
Even as Google is in talks with the Chinese government that will decide its fate in the country, Motorola has decided not to take any chances and go with Microsoft’s Bing search software for its Chinese Android phone sets. Google has also preemptively barred the use of its mobile applications on Android phones from Chinese carriers.
Google has become increasingly popular in China in recent years and commands about 35% of Chinese search market share that it has steadily snatched from the still dominant Baidu, China’s leading search engine. If Google can't reach an amicable solution with the Chinese government and get over its resistance to search results censorship mandated by China, it might end its operations there leading to potentially more jumps away from its technology within the country and possibly elsewhere. It has also decided to postpone its launch of two Android phones from Samsung and Motorola on the Chinese carrier China Unicom.
On the other hand, the underdog Microsoft’s Bing saw a slight US market share increase in February from 11.3 percent to 11.5 percent, according to the online tracking firm comScore. This is the ninth consecutive month on month increase for the search engine that debuted in June 2009. While Google still remains the numero uno with a 65.5 percent in February, this latest Motorola coup pulled by Microsoft especially in the light of its much publicized China related problems could lead to some future dents in its stellar online business model. So far Google search has been the standard way to go for leading mobile companies. But if Motorola’s Bing venture is a success in China, the idea is likely to catch on. More device makers might be inclined to look at other viable alternatives. It is no secret that in recent times, Motorola has grown to depend a lot on Google‘s Android technology to save its mobile phone business. So the Chicago based company’s migration away from Google on Google’s home grown Android platform shows that Google’s core competency in search is not that indispensible especially in this particular case as users will not get the freedom to stray from Bing in China.
Moreover Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Internet search partnership recently got approved both in U.S. and Europe and could force Google to make more of an effort to retain its market dominance. Until recently most of Android phones in US went with Google as their default search engine. But the tide seems to be slowly shifting. Bing is now the default engine on some US wireless carrier Verizon’s Blackberries’. AT&T also recently launched its first Android phone the Motorola Backflip, and surprisingly chose to go with Yahoo! as its default search provider.
Of course unlike in China, discerning users can simply switch to their favorite search provider. Even so, search companies clamor for default deals as a means to improve their search engine market share as many users tend to cling to the search engine readily provided.
A large part of Google’s inspiration in developing the mobile Android platform is to extend its powerful advertising platform to the mobile space and boost its search revenues, not to mention its cloud apps integrated through the mobile browser. So far its strategy has worked like a charm with T-Mobile’s staunch support of Android and what with Google being the chief search provider for the ever popular Apple iPhone via AT&T. But with tension mounting everyday between Apple and Google as competition stiffens between the two companies over several mobile segments and the recent launch of Google’s own phone Nexus One , there are no guarantees. There are already rumors flying around that Apple might be in talks with Microsoft to take a closer look at Bing. So far the Chinese Government has not shown any signs of wanting to loosen its grip on the web. If Google walks out of there, it does not take rocket science to figure out who stands to gain the most from Google’s 30 per cent share in China.
| Rank | Company | TTR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1(2) |  |
Intense Debate | 4,765 |
| 2 | Kaango | 9,477 |
|
| 3(1) | |
Brightkite | 11,530 |
| 4(-3) |  |
Lijit | 13,326 |
| 5(1) | |
BiggerPockets | 16,379 |
| 6(-1) | |
NewsGator | 18,854 |
| 7(1) | |
SurveyGizmo | 30,755 |
| 8(-1) | |
Printfection | 33,695 |
| 9(3) | |
Coupon Sherpa | 43,472 |
| 10(-1) | |
LifePics | 44,112 |
| 11(-1) | |
Foodzie | 67,862 |
| 12(-1) | |
Filtrbox | 78,260 |
| 13 | DigitalGlobe | 81,155 |
|
| 14 | SimpleGeo | 133,452 | |
| 15 | Blogonize | 146,217 |
|
| 16(-2) | |
Trackvia | 169,926 |
| 17 | MosaicGlobe | 177,549 |
|
| 18(3) | |
Kerpoof | 252,025 |
| 19 | EventVue | 279,646 |
|
| 20(-2) | |
BuyMyTronics | 321,524 |
| 21(-5) | |
UMapper | 338,875 |
| 22(4) | |
hubbuzz | 411,127 |
| 23(1) | |
ShipCompliant | 541,243 |
| 24(-4) | |
HiveLive | 637,019 |
| 25(2) | |
Symplified | 711,987 |
| 26(-4) | |
Buybak.com | 835,048 |
| 27(2) | |
Yieldex | 872,376 |
| 28(-5) | |
SocialThing | 895,335 |
| 29(-1) | |
Iggli | 1,059,913 |
| 30(-5) | |
HouseFront | 1,417,231 |
| 31(2) | |
Format Dynamics | 1,482,762 |
| 32 | Buzzwire | 1,526,431 |
|
| 33(-3) | |
Intelepeer | 1,658,357 |
| 34(2) | |
Passitto | 1,761,432 |
| 35(-1) | |
i-Stats | 1,846,441 |
| 36(-5) | |
Earthscape | 1,990,961 |
| 37 | Plum Amazing | 2,022,401 |
|
| 38(1) | |
Investor Avenue | 2,469,136 |
| 39(-4) | |
Jetrecord | 2,653,576 |
| 40(2) | |
5o9, Inc. | 3,406,450 |
| 41(-1) | |
madKast | 4,782,957 |
| 42(-4) | |
Me.dium | 5,408,746 |
| 43(2) | |
ION Engineering | 6,840,081 |
| 44(-1) | |
Search to Phone | 7,865,132 |
| 45(-4) | |
SocialEyes | 8,670,740 |
| 46(-2) | |
StudyCurve | 10,552,031 |
| 47 | Medioh! | 13,352,046 |
|
| 48(-2) | |
J Squared Media | 18,038,703 |
Since 1999, PEER 1 has grown into one of the world's top 5 hosting providers. We got here by delivering the kind of exceptional service that gets... [more]
Tonight, Google has unveiled their Google Apps Marketplace - an app store for enterprise apps in the cloud.
The Google Apps Marketplace offers products and services designed for Google users, including installable apps that integrate directly with Google Apps. Installable apps are easy to use because they include single sign-on, Google's universal navigation, and some even include features that integrate with your domain's data.
Using a set of APIs, third-party apps can deeply integrate their products within Google Apps which are already being used by millions of individuals, startups, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies.
Toronto's FreshBooks announced this evening that their online invoicing service has been included in the Google Apps Marketplace.
"We believe that small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy," said Sunir Shah, Chief Handshaker and head of integrations for FreshBooks. "Tools like Google Apps have helped millions of small businesses chase their dreams by giving them an affordable, powerful leg up in a difficult economy. By extending into the Google Apps ecosystem, FreshBooks is proud to be able to give these businesses another vital key to their success: getting paid faster."
FreshBooks makes you look professional when it matters the most: when asking your clients for money. FreshBooks keeps your company's time and expenses organized; provides easy online payment options by Google Checkout™, credit card, or eCheck; and gives your clients detailed account statements. By making it easy for Google Apps customers to create and log into FreshBooks accounts from their Google Apps account, they'll have just one more leg up on the competition by impressing their clients and getting paid faster.
Take a minute to browse through the 3rd party applications that were included with the Google Apps Marketplace - you'll be impressed.
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. As a first step to fulfilling that mission,... [more]
Our mission is to deliver fast and simple invoicing and time tracking services that help you manage your business. We call these Unaccounting™... [more]
Back in January, at the Consumer Electronics Show, Chevrolet announced a joint venture program with OnStar which unveiled the auto industry’s first working smartphone application that will allow Chevrolet Volt owners 24/7 connection and control of vehicle functions and OnStar features remotely. The app allows drivers to communicate with their Volt from the following smartphones: Droid by Motorola, Apple iPhone and Blackberry Storm. 
The application uses a real-time data connection to perform tasks from setting the charge time to unlocking the doors.
Here's what the application can do:
Walt Dorfstatter is the President of OnStar:
The Chevrolet Volt ushers in a new era of automotive technology and calls for a new level of connectivity and control. Nearly 6 million vehicles on the road today use OnStar to stay connected, and our new smartphone app will make that even easier for Volt drivers.
For more information please visit http://media.gm.com/volt
If you haven't used or even heard of the mobile location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla then you are in the minority. Such services, in case you don't know yet, are used to tell the world where you’re visiting,
And now a company has created a service that can show you exactly where these places are.
Toronto-based Sysomos is a leading provider of social media monitoring and analytics software. They released today a free service called FourWhere, that mashes-up locations and comments from Foursquare with the Google Maps API. There is no word yet on when FourWhere will be Gowalla-friendly.
Nick Koudas is the CEO and co-founder of Sysomos:
Creating FourWhere was a natural move for us given that Sysomos is a leading player in the social media analytics market, while Foursquare is emerging as one of the fastest-growing social media services. More and more people are using location-based services such as Foursquare, Yelp, Twitter and Gowalla. Today's launch of FourWhere is the first step in bringing the local buzz together.
Sysomos plans to use their social media expertise and content database to roll out further services and products to support FourWhere.
Want to see how FourWhere works? "Just visit www.fourwhere.com, and start discovering all the fun places you never knew existed and see the buzz about them."
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We're all about helping you find new ways to explore the city. We'll help you meet up with your friends and let you earn points and unlock badges... [more]
