San Francisco - Microsoft is skewering Google
again with ads and regulatory bashing that say as much about the
dramatic shift in the technology industry's competitive landscape as
they do about the animosity between the two rivals.
The ads that began on Tuesday mark the third
phase in a five-month-old marketing campaign that Microsoft derisively
calls “Scroogled.” The ads, which have appeared online, on television
and in print, depict Google as a duplicitous company more interested in
increasing profits and power than protecting people's privacy and
providing unbiased search results.
This time, Microsoft is vilifying Google for
sharing some of the personal information that it gathers about people
who buy applications designed to run on smartphones and tablet computers
powered by Google's Android software. Earlier ads have ripped Google's
long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of
people's Gmail accounts to help sell ads. Other ads attacked a recently
introduced policy that requires retailers to pay to appear in the
shopping section of Google's dominant search engine.
“We think we have a better alternative that
doesn't do these kinds of nefarious things,” said Greg Sullivan,
Microsoft's senior manager for Windows Phone, the business taking aim at
Google's distribution of personal information about buyers of Android
apps.
As Microsoft attacked Google in the United
States, a group led by Microsoft asked European authorities to
investigate whether Google has been using its free Android operating
system to stifle competition from other mobile services besides its own.
One such rival is Microsoft's Windows Phone system.
The barbs on both sides of the Atlantic could
backfire. Even as they help draw attention to Google practices that may
prod some consumers to try different services, they also serve as a
reminder of Microsoft's mostly futile - and costly - attempts to trump
its rival with more compelling technology.
“It's always the underdog that does negative
advertising like this, and there is no doubt that Microsoft is now the
underdog,” said Jonathan Weber, who has been following Microsoft's
“Scroogled” campaign at search consulting firm LunaMetrics.
On the flip side, Google has evolved from an
endearing Internet startup to an imposing giant running Web and mobile
services that vacuum intimate details about people's lives. Despite
repeated management assurances about respecting personal privacy, Google
has experienced several lapses that have resulted in regulatory fines,
settlements and scorn around the world.
Beyond privacy, Google has been portrayed as an abusive bully in various complaints about its business practices.
On Tuesday, the Microsoft-led FairSearch group
complained that Google has acted unfairly by requiring device makers
relying on its Android software to install an entire suite of Google's
mobile services, even if they just wanted one or two apps, such as
Google Maps or YouTube. That still hasn't prevented device makers from
redesigning Android to suit their own purposes. Amazon.com, with its
Kindle Fire, and Barnes & Noble, with its Nook tablets, are among
the companies selling Android products that don't feature Google
services.
Microsoft's latest ads revolve around concerns
already raised by privacy watchdogs. Critics argue that Google hasn't
adequately disclosed that customers' names, email addresses and
neighbourhood locations are routinely sent to the makers of apps sold in
Google's online Play store.
At least one group, Consumer Watchdog, has
complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Google's apps practices
represent an “egregious privacy violation.” Citing agency policy, FTC
spokesman Jay Mayfield declined to comment on whether the complaint has
triggered a formal investigation.
“What Google is doing is a big problem, so I am
glad Microsoft is helping to bring it to light,” said John Simpson,
Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director. “But Microsoft has its own
problems. I certainly don't think they are doing this for altruistic
reasons. They are clearly doing this for their own competitive
purposes.”
Google says it shares a limited amount of
personal information about Android apps customers to ensure they get
better service and faster responses if any problems arise. The company
says the practice is allowed under its terms of service - a document
that most people rarely read in its entirety.
Microsoft says it doesn't pass along personal
details about customers buying apps for devices running its Windows
Phone software. But there aren't as many Windows Phone users or apps for
that system as there are for Android.
The notion of Microsoft being well behind Google once seemed inconceivable.
A decade ago, Microsoft was the world's most
powerful technology company, with its Windows operating system and
Office productivity software pervasive on personal computers.
Microsoft's dominance had grown so extensive that US and European
antitrust regulators spent years trying to rein in the Redmond,
Washington, software company.
Although Google was growing rapidly at the
time, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other skeptics dismissed the
company as a “one-trick pony” that hadn't proven adept at doing anything
besides searching the Web and selling ads next to the results.
Google, which is based in Mountain View,
California, has since morphed into a multi-faceted juggernaut
relentlessly trying to muscle into new markets. The company now runs the
world's most watched online video service in YouTube, the largest email
service in Gmail and the most widely used operating system for mobile
devices in Android. All of those services provide more opportunities to
show the ads that generate the bulk of Google's revenue. Google is now
the company facing the scrutiny of regulators - and Microsoft has been
active in making those complaints, including the one announced on
Tuesday.
“Google is certainly the biggest challenge that
Microsoft has ever had to deal with,” said Michael Cusumano, a
professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of
Management and author of several books about Microsoft.
Microsoft has tried to thwart Google by
investing heavily in online services, to little avail. Since Google went
public in August 2004, Microsoft's online division has accumulated more
than $17.5-billion in operating losses. The losses include an
accounting charge of more than $6-billion for Microsoft's acquisition of
aQuantive, an online advertising service that didn't pan out.
Google, meanwhile, has been steadily increasing
profits and share of the Internet search market. Google processes about
two out of every three search requests in the US and handles an even
larger percentage of queries in many parts of Europe.
Although Microsoft has remained profitable
companywide, the Windows franchise that provides its financial backbone
has been weakening as a growing preference for smartphones and tablet
computers undercuts sales of desktop and laptop computers. Besides doing
damage with Android, Google is also trying to dent Microsoft by selling
a less expensive, Internet-based alternative to Microsoft's Office
suite. Google also is pushing a laptop operating system built on its
popular Chrome Web browser in an attempt to divert even more sales away
from Windows machines.
Microsoft has countered with a dramatic
overhaul of the Windows operating system, one designed to bring tablet
features such as touch screens to desktops and laptops. But Windows 8
has gotten off to a tepid start since its October release.
The changing fortunes of Microsoft and Google have been reflected in the stock market's appraisal of the two companies.
Google's market value has soared from nearly
$25-billion at the time of its initial public offering in 2004 to nearly
$260-billion. Microsoft's market value has fallen by about 17 percent
during the same period, declining from nearly $300 billion at the time
of Google's IPO to $249-billion today. Apple, a rival of both Google and
Microsoft, is the only technology company worth more than Google, with a
market value hovering around $400-billion.
Microsoft developed its anti-Google ad campaign
shortly after hiring former political operative Mark Penn in August as a
corporate strategist who reports directly to Ballmer. Penn is best
known as a former pollster for President Bill Clinton and a campaign
strategist for Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful bid for president in 2008.
Penn left his job as CEO of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller to
help Microsoft generate more usage of its Bing search engine and other
online services.
Microsoft isn't saying how much it is spending
on the ad campaign beyond saying the amount will run in the
“multimillions” of dollars.
Although there isn't any evidence that the ads
have hurt Google yet, Sullivan said Microsoft is pleased with the
response. The company says about 117,000 people have signed Microsoft's
online petition protesting Gmail's ad-driving scanning of content.
That's a sliver of the more than 425 million Gmail accounts worldwide.
Microsoft says about 4 million people have visited Scroogled.com, the
website that serves as the hub of the company's anti-Google campaign.
Although the attack ads are something new for
Microsoft, denigrating the competition isn't. Most notably, Microsoft
tried to undermine Web browser pioneer Netscape Communications beginning
in the mid-1990s. Most of that sniping remained behind the scenes until
a US Department of Justice investigation into Microsoft's business
practices exposed the cut-throat tactics deployed to overcome Netscape's
early lead in the Web browser market.
Given that history, Microsoft's marketing
assault on Google isn't that surprising, said Cusumano, who has been
following the company for 20 years.
“Nothing is below Microsoft,” Cusumano said.
“They have been playing dirty for a long time. In this instance, they
probably sincerely believe this can give them a little marketing edge
and help them capitalize on the growing discomfort with the size and
influence of Google.” - Sapa-AP
No comments:
Post a Comment
let have your opinion