Microsoft takes on Google and Yahoo!
Microsoft will unveil its attempt to take on Google and Yahoo! in the competitive search market today, launching its new search engine in 10 languages across 24 countries.
The US software company is desperate to claw back ground on its competitors, viewing search as one of the keys to retaining its pre-eminence among the next generation of computer users. MSN Search, which goes live today having been launched as a trial version last year, is the company's attempt to close the gap on Google, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves.
Search marketing is the fastest-growing advertising sector of recent years. Analysts believe search engines will increasingly provide the starting point for all computer activities, from viewing TV shows to searching for information.
MSN promises users "more precise and relevant answers" from its library of five billion web pages, images and news sources. It hopes to persuade its 350 million users, many of them using its popular Hotmail and Messenger services, to also use the search engine.
Matt Whittingham, head of information services at MSN, said: "Visitors to MSN Search can now find precisely what they're looking for in less time, and we're confident more and more people will make it their first-choice search engine."
MSN claims to offer more up-to-date information than its rivals by trawling the web for new sites every two days rather than the industry standard of two weeks and will also try to attract users by offering fact-based answers and 40,000 articles from its Encarta encyclopedia.
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Google stole a march on its larger rivals by focusing exclusively on search at a time when they were concentrating on web content.
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