Bing inches ahead in search market

Microsoft Bing has been inching forward from 8.92 percent of the search market in December to 9.37 percent in January and 9.70 percent in February, says online traffic monitor Hitwise. While it is far behind current leader Google, which commands some 70.95 percent of the search market as of February, the numbers nevertheless represent a steady and consistent increase in a market long-dominated by Google.

The increase in search queries was mirrored by figures from ComScore, which in its ComScore Core Search Report, noted that Microsoft sites saw an increase of 0.2 percent in the United States between January and February. This continues a trend that began when Bing was launched in June last year, though it looks like a long road ahead.

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research summed up the challenges ahead for Bing: "Even if [Bing] is getting traction, growth would be slow," Gottheil said. "People don't change without some impetus. Google isn't broken. Why fix it? At best, it's going to be a long road for Microsoft."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out this article at CNET News 

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