· “Decision Search Engine”

· Microsoft claims “nearly half of all searches don’t result in the answer that people are seeking”

· Bing aims to supply ‘knowledge that leads to action’

· $100 million advertising budget

· Market share Google 65%, Yahoo 20.4%, Microsoft 8.2%

Not satisfied with third place honour in the Google-dominated search engine line up, Microsoft is set to ‘Bing’ something new to the table. Rather than just another search engine that dishes out results based on popularity, Bing prides itself as a ‘decision engine’.

Since drawing excitement as ‘Kumo’ with some of its features revealed on the Microsoft blog in March, Microsoft has since renamed their new search engine Bing. “The name is short, it’s easy to say, it works globally,” quipped Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer.

Well, to begin with, I’m not really sure we need a new search engine. Besides, with a 65% stronghold of the market share, Google is probably unbeatable. Over 30% of global internet users visit Google every day. Would Bing be satisfied being second in command by trumping Yahoo’s 20.4% market share then? Runner up doesn’t sound that bad given the dismal performances from MSN Search and Live Search. Microsoft only managed 8.2%. These figures were from comScore Inc based on US search queries in April.

Microsoft justifies the introduction of Bing as the solution to providing people with the answer that they are seeking. With over four new websites created every second in 2009, Microsoft claims that ‘nearly half of all searches don’t result in the answer that people are seeking’. Hence, more than just providing information, Bing aims to supply ‘knowledge that leads to action’ by helping users take the guess work out to make smarter, faster decisions.

Bing features a bar of links running down the left side of the search results page that aim to help organise results. It also keeps track of recent searches and enables users to email links from that search history or share them on Facebook.

What attracts me and will entice me to switch to Bing are its unique shopping and travel functions. A search on airfare will bring up results from Farecast which features the Price Predictor that charts the best time to buy an air ticket so as to get you the biggest savings.

The online shopper will take delight in how Bing makes shopping easier; Bing brings together price comparisons, images and reviews without leaving the search page. Better still, it claims to get consumers cash backs from hundreds of online retailers.

Bing also reassures the user looking for medical information online by providing results from the top credible medical sources in the world which you can trust. It also refines the results on local searches and allows you to filter your results so you get what you want instead of having to sift through everything a search engine would usually throw at you.

Hopefully, with the launch of Bing, Microsoft can turn the situation around. It posted a quarterly loss in its online advertising business.

However, it will first have to contend with a generous advertising budget. Having learnt its lesson from its last foray, Live Search, which fell short of expectations due to a lack of promotion, Microsoft has been reported to have set aside up to $100 million to advertise Bing.

Will Rocky the underdog, a term Ballmer has used to describe his outfit, triumph with this one? “It takes persistence in this stuff. You don’t always get things right,” said Ballmer. Let’s just hope it pays off this time. Well, for one, I already like what I use. It seems an easy-to-use search engine that does things a little differently. So, why not give it a go?

Testing out Google and Bing to search for Pizza ignoring local index just comparing from a normal user usage

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