Top > Business > 2007 > January > 2007-01-02

Yahoo vs. Google: What`s the score?

It`s been another busy year for the two internet rivals Yahoo and Google. As Trend gurus have coined the phrase web.2 for the new phenomenon of active user participation in the creation of internet content, and as surfers are outsourcing ever more of their social, consumer, and business activities onto the web, both internet giants and veterans Yahoo and Google have been scrambling for the biggest slice before the big take-off.

Both companies have been busy launching new products and looking and finding new strategic business alliances and hip start-ups. While Yahoo`s efforts to swallow High School Contact Site Facebook haven`t produced any results as yet, Google made headline after headline, first for the $900 million deal with MySpace to advertise and provide search functions on the popular social networking site, and second on the swallowing on YouTube, the online video networking site.

Yahoo on the other hand pulled of a big deal in convincing Microsoft to enable MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger to interact. Whereas Google is famed for projecting an image of innovation by releasing new products in regular intervals, analysts warn not to underestimate Yahoo, with its loyal customer base that is actually willing to pay for services and its lesser dependence on one single service. A senior analyst at Jupiter Research has admitted that he missed a more focused product strategy at Google, and suggested that this should be one of the top priorities for the company. In the meanwhile, the next round is on in the fight of the giants for the ownership of web.2.