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2707 - Can Yahoo dominate next decade?

22/03/2005 - 10:38:40

For Jupiter analyst Olivier Beauvillain, Yahoo's initial decision to put its investment on search on hold was an error.

"Yahoo was busy building a portal and while it was good to diversify they made a big mistake in outsourcing search to Google," he said

"They thought Google would just be a technology provider but it has become a portal in its own right and a direct competitor," he added.

He believes Yahoo failed to see how crucial search would become to internet users, something it has rediscovered in recent years.

"It is interesting that in these last few years, it has refocused on search following the success of Google," he said.

But for Allen Weiner, a research director at analyst firm Gartner and someone who has followed Yahoo's progress since the early years, the future of search is not going to be purely about the technology powering it.

"Search technology is valuable but the next generation of search is going to be about premium content and the interface that users have to that content," he said.

He believes the rivalry between Google and Yahoo is overblown and instead thinks the real battle is going to be between Yahoo and MSN.

It is a battle that Yahoo is currently winning, he believes.

"Microsoft has amazing assets including software capability and a global name but it has yet to show me it can create a rival product to Yahoo," he said.

Original Location: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4309685.stm

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