Dave’s Take

In the ever increasing war between search engine giants, a new search spider has arrived and with it, a new way to search. Goby is the Webs’ latest crawler and its cause for Google and Yahoo to worry (if only a little) for Goby is the first of a new generation of “smart” search engines.

Launch barely a month ago, Goby is attracting widespread attention in the online world for its unique ability to utilize algorithms, structure and categories to deliver specific, timely information. How specific? Well, if you are looking for say a concert to attend or an upcoming festival at which to spend your weekend, Goby can tell you when, where and how. Goby’s ability to deliver this immediate info sets it apart from Yahoo, Bing and Google, who use ginormous databases to furnish their results. Goby is like a cloud-based desktop application – not deep, but very efficient in delivering what it’s designed for – events, locations and times. Asking it to provide information on how to make a rocket would be a wasted search. Goby isn’t the smart nerd who’s knowledgeable about quantum physics; it’s the hot social secretary that knows what’s happening and where.

While its current relevance is for events, Goby’s owners have bigger plans for their smart spider. According to co-founder, Mark Watkins, Goby is soon to be adding such competitive features as travel, retail and health care. “You just have a passion and try to build a successful business that solves problems for people,” stated Watkins when asked about his motivation for inventing Goby. Giving people an immediate way to access all that is happening around them sounds like a worthwhile place to start for Goby. Clearly, we will be hearing more about the new wave of smart spiders.

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In other search engine news, speculation is rampant that Ask.com may soon be on the auction block. Owner/Obsessive Barry Diller is said to be unhappy about his SE being in a distant fourth with just 3.9% of the market. Industry insiders believe Microsoft may buy the irrelevant site in an attempt to bolster Bings’ 9% share. How much that move would improve their popularity is questionable. After all, when was the last time you used Ask.com?

In yet another installation of “How Broke is Los Angeles?”, the LA city council has recently voted unanimously to outsource its e-mail system to Google. Starting on a test basis next June, all 30,000 city employees will have their e-mails delivered via a Google cloud. “The City of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the nation, made a world-class decision today to support a state-of-the-art e-mail system,” stated Councilman Tony Cardenas.

Despite the 12-0 vote, several council members questioned the stability and cost savings of such a decision. To reduce concerns, Google agreed to add a provision in the $7.25 million contract for compensation should the city’s data be lost or compromised. What that level of compensation will be was not disclosed. Archrival Microsoft lobbied hard to prevent the award, negotiating dutifully for the contract over the past twelve months – all to no avail.

Critics of the award argued the new system should be based on a Linux or UNIX open-sourced code, fearing Google will morph into a latter-day Microsoft willing to continue raising prices and curtailing code sharing. How anyone could think such skeptical thoughts about a monopolistic American company is beyond me…but then, I’m still waiting for flying cars and zero calorie ice cream.

Is this the kind of thing we want outsourced? Do we need to wonder about security breeches or targeted malware? If the LA DMV is any indicator, I don’t think the state has a clue about IT, so Google should have a low threshold in terms of improving internal communications. I just wonder what the cash-strapped city will outsource next – perhaps offshore 9-1-1 operators?

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In other tech news, a new Nielsen study shows both good news and bad news for mobile Web providers. According to the study, the audience for Web surfing via cell phone is increasing to nearly 57 million users. The bad news is that two out of three cell phone surfers are frustrated with their phone’s Web surfability.

Because of the wide use of broadband, consumers are used to having Web pages load within five seconds. Unfortunately, the average smart phone takes longer than six seconds to load page ready viewing. This has led to over 60% of cell phone users saying they would be less likely to visit slow-loading sites. Additionally, 80% of users claim they would visit Web sites more often if the process was a fast and reliable as their PC. Clearly, when it comes to timely surfing, the cell phone manufacturers have their work cut out for them.

The $100 million investment Microsoft put into its state-of-the-art search engine, Bing is finally beginning to pay off. According to reports, Bing revenue is up a full 15% from the same period last year. As good of news as this is to the Seattle based computer giant, it’s even better news for the entire search engine advertising business. Clients are back baby! Spending among search engine advertisers is approaching levels unseen since before our economic collapse.

Overall, search advertising spending is up 10% from the second quarter and industry experts are cautiously optimistic about fourth quarter biz. Since paid search advertising is the most immediate indicator of market spending, it appears the fourth quarter losses expected in broadcast and print will be somewhat offset by the Internet. Hey, when it comes to the sinking business that is advertising, any uptick is great news.

Lest you think Bing has bucked the odds and has overtaken the big boys in search engine advertising, better think again. While the 15% increase is indeed great news for Bing, it still lags behind Yahoo and Google by significant market share. Even with its gains, Bing only receives approximately 6% of all search engine advertising expenditures. Conversely, the latest figures show Yahoo holding steady at 17% of the market and the ginormous Google at a whopping 77%. Clearly, Bing has a long road to hoe if they ever intend to breach Google’s dominance of the market.