Is Ballmer living in an alternate universe?
Steve Ballmer believes Google is only winning in search. He must be kidding, right?
Spending some time in Tokyo to participate in the launch of new Windows Live services, the Microsoft mouthpiece proved once again that not only is the company headed in the wrong direction, it has no idea what is really going on.
Speaking to reporters, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, had the following to say about his company's war with Google on multiple fronts: "Google is not ahead of us. In the area of search specifically, Google would lead."
Wow. Is this guy living in an alternate universe that somehow forgets the truth? Google is only winning in the search space? I'm not so sure I agree with that, Steve.
But, for the sake of argument, why don't we take a look to see if your summary of the current state of affairs is truly accurate.
Search
You certainly hit the nail on the head with this one, Steve. You're right -- Google is walloping you in the search business and to be quite honest, I don't see any saving grace in sight. Sure, you can tout figures that show Microsoft has the fastest growing search engine in the world, but when you start with little or no users and build your way up to a minuscule 890 million queries compared to Google's 4 billion in September, I think you have some issues on your plate.
Advertising
Ah yes, the object of much debate: advertising. Can you honestly say that you have a lead in advertising over Google? Let's do the math, shall we?
Currently, about 40 percent of all advertising dollars go to search, according to a report by eMarketer. And to make matters worse, it's Google, not Microsoft, that is currently leading in that field. Interestingly enough, video and display advertising -- long a favorite of DoubleClick -- accounts for 30 percent of the online advertising market.
To make matters worse, Steve, if Google is successful in completing its acquisition of DoubleClick, look for the company currently controlling the online advertising space to become even more powerful.
And as for you? Well, you always have, aQuantive, I guess.
Online video
I'm a firm believer that the future of video will revolve exclusively around the Internet. And while I'm not necessarily sold on any one service right now, there is no debating the fact that YouTube commands the most respect in that space. Interestingly enough, that company is owned by Google, as well. What a coincidence!
On the other hand, Microsoft has played little part in the online video world. Could it be that it feels it cannot compete with the likes of Google in this space? Or is it that Redmond can't seem to find a suitable target to take Google on? Either way, it's not winning in online video either.
Online productivity
Personally, I'm not a fan of Google Docs. I find the software solutions to be too primitive for the average user, but adequate for those looking for a simple word processing application. That said, it still eclipses Microsoft's ability to upload Office documents to a Windows Live server, doesn't it?
Unfortunately for Steve Ballmer and company, the list of Google dominance could go on. Regardless, why does Ballmer feel so threatened by Google? Isn't Microsoft a software company first and an online company second? Shouldn't it be focused on Apple and the Linux community instead of an online company that doesn't have an operating system to speak of?
This is just another example of Microsoft's Google envy. For years, Microsoft enjoyed beating up on smaller companies and assumed that its dominance would last forever. Suffice it to say, Gates, Ballmer and company were wrong. And to be quite honest, I like it.
Enjoy your envy, Steve. After all, what goes around comes around, right?