Is "Live" the Right Brand for Microsoft's Search?

Microsoft has spent an estimated 3 billion dollars building its own search technology. But the results are far from satisfactory. Moreover, while Google becomes synonymous with Internet search, Microsoft's MSN/Live search is increasingly losing its grip on the search engine market while the Redmond Company's online division is losing money.

In October 2006, MSN/Live Search dropped as low as 8.8% on the US search market, while Google and Yahoo continued to prosper with search shares of 49.6% and 23.9%, respectively. In fact, Microsoft is the sole major player with a negative Year on Year growth of -8%.

And while the company has decided to keep both MSN and Live Search alive, although the two services represent conflicting strategies, Steve Berkowitz, Microsoft's SVP of the Online Business Group, is not sure of the "Live" brand. "I don't know if Live is the right name," he said, adding that he still has to decide what to do with it. MSN is not shutdown because it accounts for in excess of 430 million users worldwide. Berkowitz moved to Microsoft from Ask.com. He had no part of MSN or Live Search. The two services were Microsoft's dowry with the occasion of the marriage.

But despite Berkowitz uncertainties related to the Live brand, Microsoft's SVP revealed that a brand overhauling is not on the Redmond Company's list of priorities. On top of that list is to increase the search engine's popularity with consumers in the Web search territory where Google represents the major landscape and a service that has transitioned into a verb.