14 DAY TRIAL // In a time where Google, Microsoft and Yahoo seem to be the main players in the Internet game, Ask.com
has somehow managed to hold its position and preserve its users for 15 years.
Founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen under the name of Ask Jeeves, the company slipped on a somewhat descendant slope until 2009, when Jeeves the Butler was reintroduced to the UK.
This is merely one of the numerous events mentioned on mylast15.com, a special website dedicated to remembering the most important events of the past 15 years.
During this time, there were several CEOs in charge who tried to bring back innovation and originality to the company, while still keeping its essence.
This is why when Doug Leeds took over this position in 2009, he realized it was time for a new approach to the already popular Q&A platforms.
In order to make sure the site will still keep its place amongst the big companies, the CEO revamped Ask.com as a site where “search-based answers and human-powered ones” would blend.
It appears that the strategy functioned, since the CEO Doug Leeds declares the service is currently boasting about 90 million users.
As it would be expected, Doug Leeds also has high goals for the future, as the company will start to pay more attention to the mobile side of Internet.
Consequently, they will focus on “[...] a growing suite of mobile apps designed to accommodate a variety of use cases, ubiquity on all mobile platforms and operating systems, and more integration and transparency with third party developers.”
While this is definitely the right path to follow according to the current trend on the web, it remains to be seen whether Ask.com manages to preserve its identity for another 15 years, or gets swamped by the bigger players.