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{{B}}HERE WE GOOGLE
AGAIN{{/B}} Google dominates the Internet-search business, such as Netscape once ruled in Web browsers and Real Networks did in media players. Begun as a research project by two graduate students in 1998, Google today carries out more than 200 million searches a day and is estimated to have had $1 billion income last year, mainly from advertising sector. It is the most visited search site, accounting for 35% of search-engine visits — compared with 28% for Yahoo, 16% for AOL and 15% for Microsoft's MSN, according to comScore Networks, a market-research company. But that masks its tree influence. Google's technology is used to power searches on other sites, such as Yahoo and AOL (though Yahoo plans to use its own technology soon). Taking this into account makes Google responsible for around 80% of all Internet searches. The company is now preparing for a stock market flotation in the next few months. Google's power makes it just the sort of company that Microsoft typically tries to squash. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Mr. Gates admitted that Google's search technology was "way better" than Microsoft's, and identified Internet search as a key focus for his company. |