Is Microsoft The Biggest Competitor Of Google ?

In a recent, interview with Charlie Rose on the PBS Network on September 2010 Google CEO, Eric Schmidt said that Microsoft is Google's biggest competitor. Some technology analysts believe that Google CEO, Eric Schmidt is right by saying that Microsoft is the company's biggest rival. The truth is that Google grew rapidly and other technology companies did not quickly notice its rapid growth until it hit them in the face. With market capitalization of $156 billion, annual revenue of about $25 billion dollars and share price of over $500, Google is indeed a technology giant. The fact suggests that since Google attained success as a search engine and search remains 96% of its revenue stream the company has been looking for growth opportunities.

There is a widely held view that in the process of seeking growth opportunities and diversifying its income stream Google has often stirred itself into trouble. In 2007 Google ran into trouble with another tech giant - eBay which accused Google of trying to lure away some of its top sellers. Mountain View was attempting to lure the top eBay sellers to use its own product -Google checkout -a competitor to PayPal. As a result, eBay pulled its ads from AdWords as a sanction against Google. At that time eBay was one of Google's top advertisers spending $26 million monthly ($312 million annually) on Google AdWords in the U.S. market.

In another front in the battle against Mountain View, VIACOM owners of MTV got entangled in legal battle with Google over alleged copyright infringements on the Google owned website- YouTube which VIACOM had lost in its acquisition bid. The lawsuit against Google, which was seeking $1 billion in damages, was seen as a reprisal move from VIACOM, which was outbid by Google in the quest to acquire YouTube.

Off course, there have been battles with Apple since Google ventured into the phone business with Android OS, Android phones, G1 and Nexus 1 phones. The facts suggest that Google's decision to venture into the phone business partly led to the exit of Eric Schmidt from the Apple board. In addition, Apple filed a trademark infringement suit against HTC the Taiwanese company that makes NEXUS 1 for Google-a proxy war. Furthermore, Apple then let Microsoft's Bing -Google's main rival to become the optional search engine on the Apple iPhone. Also, when Google outbid Apple to acquire Admob Apple shut them out of iAd- the new app based search platform they were developing. Even though Google and Apple are reportedly mending fences, the relationship between the two companies is not as cozy as it was five years ago. Earlier this year Oracle joined the war against Mountain view by filing a lawsuit against Google's Android for infringements of the JAVA code. There is a widely held view that Microsoft and Apple may indirectly benefit from the Oracle lawsuit.

However, the biggest challenge for the search giant is the battle with Microsoft and is going to be one of the toughest Google will ever face. Google started stirring trouble by building operating systems like Chrome for the desktop PC's and offering it for free and seeking to degrade the value and importance of Microsoft's top cash cow- Windows operating system. In addition, Google ventured into web browser development and with Chrome, they seek to dislodge Microsoft Internet explorer as the leading web browser.

In addition, Google DOCS is another venture that is pitting Mountain View in direct competition with Redmond. Microsoft has come roaring back and internally said to be threatening to kill Google. The development of the Bing search engine is Microsoft's strategy for dethroning Google as the number 1 search engine. The fact that 96% of Google's income comes from search has made many industry chieftains like Yahoo CEO, Carol Bartz suggest that the search giant will be in trouble if the does not diversify its revenue stream.

The battle with Microsoft will be the toughest that Google will ever face because Microsoft is a company, which unlike Google has a diversified revenue stream, and is targets and destroys competition. Remember, the browser war of the 90's that led to the demise of Netscape. In addition, Microsoft dominance of the desktop PC's with their Windows operating systems and their emergence as the biggest technology company over the last 15 years shows that the company is formidable. There has been a lot of debate as to whether Google will kill Microsoft or if Microsoft will kill Google. The truth is that in the Google- Microsoft face off Google is more vulnerable.

Google's emergence as the largest search engine has brought it in direct competition with other internet firms,search engines and technology companies especially Microsoft. Microsoft has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building the search engine Bing. Bing has been getting positive reviews and has witnessed growth in market share since it was launched in 2009. Microsoft's Bing partnership with Yahoo is expected to help grow its search market share and reduce the influence of Google search. In this article, Henry Aladiume CEO/President of Elnegy LLC reviews Microsoft's strategy for undermining Google search. Elnegy LLC is a consumer electronics technology company based in Houston, Texas, United States. You can visit http://www.elnegy.com for top home stereo systems, car stereos, flat screen TV's and updated content on technology.