Charles Moore, in an op-ed piece for Technology Tell, once said Apple should consider buying the Bing search engine from Microsoft. Of course, that hasn’t happened despite rumors of Apple developing its own search engine.
I don’t think Apple will buy Bing OR develop its own search engine. However, the idea is intriguing.
“Apple has proven over and over that it can make handsome profits in market sectors and categories where Microsoft has failed to do so,” Moore wrote. “With its famous cash hoard, Apple would presumably have no difficulty purchasing Bing should Microsoft put it on the market. It would be fascinating to watch what Apple could do with what is already an excellent search engine, perhaps renamed ‘iSearch’.”
Bing has hit 21.4% market share in the US according the latest data from comScore (www.comscore.com), which “measures the digital world.” Yahoo’s US search market share is currently 11.8%. Google’s is 65.6%.
That’s not a bad starting point for Apple if it decided to purchase Bing, although it wouldn’t be a profitable venture at first. In fact, though Bing has been gaining market share, it has been a money pit for Microsoft ever since it was first launched. But profitability for Bing is expected this year.
f course, that’s assuming Microsoft actually would sell Bing. If so, Apple probably wouldn’t scoop it up. On the other hand, the company and Google go head-to-head in many areas, so I’d never rule a Bing/iSearch possibility out completely.
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