Wow. That's a Lot of Cash for Mobile Search
At CES Ballmer just made it official: $550 to $650 million a year for 5 years to be the default search provider for Verizon's 78 million subs.
Seems to me that this deal is going to live and die by how prominent Microsoft is on the Verizon decks, and how good a job Microsoft does in providing a compelling user experience. The mobile search experience is very different than the laptop search experience.
When I am searching from my laptop I'm seeking specific things (products and services) while also exploring (Icelandic currency price). On my phone I'm searching for very specific things (where is that damn restaurant). This doesn't meant that the rapidly increasing power of handsets and networks won't make the mobile search experience come to rival the laptop experience, but it isn't there yet.
Yet the rapidly increasing capabilities of the mobile browsing experience is what makes this deal somewhat problematic. A thousand years ago when I was at Openwave being at the top of the deck meant something because going beyond the first screen was a royal pain. Now phones ship with easy to use browsers runnng on fast networks that make bookmarking and going directly to specific information sources incredibly easy.
The issue is that, over the next five years, not only will the capabilities of mobile continue to increase, but those capabilities will filter down to mobile users who still have clam shell phones.
So, like I said, seems to me that this deal comes down to execution. If Microsoft can craft a compelling mobile search experience that keeps users from bookmarking someone else's search then this deal might work. But getting this deal done should be considered only the first step in a much longer journey.
Seems to me that this deal is going to live and die by how prominent Microsoft is on the Verizon decks, and how good a job Microsoft does in providing a compelling user experience. The mobile search experience is very different than the laptop search experience.
When I am searching from my laptop I'm seeking specific things (products and services) while also exploring (Icelandic currency price). On my phone I'm searching for very specific things (where is that damn restaurant). This doesn't meant that the rapidly increasing power of handsets and networks won't make the mobile search experience come to rival the laptop experience, but it isn't there yet.
Yet the rapidly increasing capabilities of the mobile browsing experience is what makes this deal somewhat problematic. A thousand years ago when I was at Openwave being at the top of the deck meant something because going beyond the first screen was a royal pain. Now phones ship with easy to use browsers runnng on fast networks that make bookmarking and going directly to specific information sources incredibly easy.
The issue is that, over the next five years, not only will the capabilities of mobile continue to increase, but those capabilities will filter down to mobile users who still have clam shell phones.
So, like I said, seems to me that this deal comes down to execution. If Microsoft can craft a compelling mobile search experience that keeps users from bookmarking someone else's search then this deal might work. But getting this deal done should be considered only the first step in a much longer journey.
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