Google Sees Microsoft Bing, Yahoo as Chief Rivals, Not Apple

by Clint Boulton

With Microsoft waging a scintillating proxy war on the ground, Google’s biggest threat in search comes from Bing.

With 17 percent of the market, Yahoo is not exactly a slouch, but the company is beginning to feel as though Microsoft is propping it up to tack that 17 percent on to Bing. If you asked Google execs whether the company fears Microsoft or Yahoo more in search, they’d say Microsoft.

We’ll definitely give Google this one, considering Amazon.com’s opposition to Google Book Search.

eBay is the other e-commerce king. No quibbling here. Also, Google is looking to make some sort of major e-commerce push this year, putting it even more at odds with eBay and Amazon.com.

Thanks to its real-time microblogging and search, Twitter is taking eyeballs from Google. That’s what Google Buzz is trying to combat.

The Budweiser of social networks, Facebook boasts more than 400 million users. That’s a lot of ad time Google isn’t getting on its sites. Buzz is also designed to curb this, but it will be tough.

Google tried to buy this local search site, which boasts some 30 million users. Google noted this trend among Facebook, Twitter and Yelp subscribers: “Some users are relying more on social networks for product or service referrals, rather than seeking information through traditional search engines.”

Monster.com is the leading Internet employment portal, with millions of people logging and storing their resumes.

The premier medical information site, WebMD competes with the Google Health personal medical record service.

Kayak is a travel site, but why aren’t travel powerhouses Priceline.com, Expedia or other sites mentioned? In any case, Google noted this about Kayak, Monster.com and WebMD: “We compete with these sites because they, like us, are trying to attract users to their Websites to search for product or service information, and some users will navigate directly to those sites rather than go through Google.”

No, Apple isn’t mentioned in the 10-K filing, making it the perfect elephant in the living room because Google and Apple compete in smartphones and mobile applications. Google’s Android mobile platform threatens Apple’s iPhone and apps ecosystem. Google did imply that Apple could be labeled a competitor in the future, noting: “As the mobile application ecosystem develops further, users are increasingly accessing e-commerce and other sites through those companies’ stand-alone mobile applications, instead of through search engines.” Get ready for the Google-Apple war!