Japan’s largest Internet portal site, Yahoo! Japan announced on Tuesday that it will now use Google’s search engine. The move, which was announced in a statement along with Yahoo! Japan’s first quarter earnings, has surprised many in the technology world as it reflects a different path from its American cousin, Yahoo. You may recall that Yahoo and Microsoft had an agreement in 2009 which allowed Yahoo to use Microsoft’s Bing search technology. However they are still to implement it.
According to Net Ratings, a research firm, Yahoo! Japan is the market leader in country’s search service with 53.2 per cent of all search activity. Google is quickly closing on Yahoo! Japan and comes in second with 37.3 percent. Microsoft’s Bing and MSN are collectively third with around a three per cent share. But when overall picture is taken into account, it is Google all the way. Google remains the undisputed leader with almost 85 percent of the total search activities.
Yahoo, though an investor with 34.8 percent shares in Yahoo Japan, is not the only one. Softbank, the Japanese cell phone and Web giant, holds a bigger share, 38.6 percent so Yahoo Japan’s decisions may have been influenced by Softbank. This move, though not in harmony with Yahoo’s Stance, reflects Yahoo’s firm resolve of being a creator of Web content and as a marketer and leader in online display advertising, while outsourcing Web search technology.
What does this mean for Microsoft?
This deal perhaps effectively puts end to whatever hopes Microsoft had of making comeback in search services. Microsoft sought to revive itself by striking a deal with Yahoo! which allowed Bing to power Yahoo!’s search engine and made Yahoo! responsible for selling the advertising around the combined search efforts. The deal was announced in July 2009 but hasn’t been put through as it first required to be cleared by both the regulators.
