Microsoft could miss out on catching Google due to poor Live branding

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microsoft.pngMicrosoft’s poor rollout of the “Live” brand may well have hurt its chances at catching Google in the search engine and online applications space.

David Smith, an analyst at Gartner, said that the Live branding was confusing to users, with the new brand not differentiated from other Microsoft products.

Part of the problem seems to be that not enough people are visiting live.com to start their web searches. Not surprising given that Google has almost half the market share of Internet searches and that a number of users don’t even know that Microsoft has a search engine.

Another problem is that some of the Live services only work on the latest versions of Internet Explorer.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though, as the number of users of Live services is growing, and there’s a positive buzz around the Internet from many ordinary blogging users. You also know that Microsoft won’t be giving up their assault on the Internet space.

Related stories: CES 2007: Bill Gates keynote – the basics (Xbox, Vista, Windows Live) | Creative unveils Live! Cam Optia – optimised for Skype and Windows Live Messenger

Andy Merrett
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