14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's search has been in the dump as of the past year and the Redmond Company proved incapable to deter its search services from the downslope. But is healthcare search going to pull Microsoft search out of the slump?
The Redmond Company announced further investments in the search industry with the acquisition of Medstory Inc. Medstory is a company that operates a search engine with the same name based on intelligent Web search technology that addresses health information. With this agreement, Microsoft aims to deliver a search platform for the estimated 8 million users that enter heath-related queries into search engines every day. Neither Microsoft nor Medstory have revealed any financial details related to the agreement.
"At Microsoft, we are focused on enabling people to make the best decisions," said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president for health strategy and leader of the Health Solutions Group. "We were impressed with the ability of Medstory's unique technology to organize and surface the most relevant online health content, which empowers consumers who are trying to find the right information about an important life event."
With this acquisition, Medstory employees will join the ranks of the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, a division focused on product development and delivery.
"Instead of trying to force people to think in terms of the way a computer searches, we're enabling computers to more intuitively conduct searches in the way that people think," said Dr. Alain Rappaport, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and founder of Medstory. When the acquisition closes, Rappaport will assume the role of general manager of health search in the Health Solutions Group. "With Microsoft's global reach and experience, I look forward to this soon becoming a standard for online searches in health and medicine."