Microsoft Bing now officially ranks #2 In Search

Nothing can get me started faster than a debate about how “If Windows 8 fails to penetrate the mobile market, MS is in serious trouble.”

I wholeheartedly agree that mobile expansion is an essential part of Microsoft’s plan, but if Windows 8 and WP never manage to take a strong hold in the mobile market is Microsoft on the brink of ruin? Heavens, no.

The Microsoft of the 90s would have had a death kneel almost instantly if Windows would have failed back than, but for those who didn’t realize this: We aren’t in the 90s anymore and times have changed.

Microsoft has tons of very lucrative branches to rest on, and although Windows is a very important branch, it isn’t the only money-maker it has around.

So what else is there? For starters Microsoft productivity programs like MS Office (although this HAS been around since the 90s and earlier). To follow that up, we also have Microsoft’s Xbox, licensing earnings from Android and other Windows-like Oses, and search, just to name a few.

Not too mention, it is nearly impossible for Windows 8 and WP7+ to fail entirely, they will likely still establish a small niche (at the very least), that still adds to the companies massive profit margins.

The biggest changes from 2000 and beyond, would be Xbox and search. Xbox is evolving rapidly into more than just a gaming venture and is further pushing Microsoft into the TV business.

I fully anticipate that future Xbox products will have full-functioning DVRs and online-based TV services that put even the likes of Dish Network and DirecTV to shame.

As for search? Back in the days of MSN Search and other such endeavors, search was a laughable thing from Microsoft (at least in my personal opinion).

Today, though? Bing not only brings in a lot of traffic under its own name, it also manages to do quite well licensing its search engine capabilities over to Yahoo.

Now Microsoft has finally crossed a MAJOR milestone in the search market, Bing Search Engine now ranks second behind Google in the Internet’s most lucrative market.

If you count Yahoo and Bing together (since their search is the same, technically) this brings Bing even closer to fully catching up with Google.

Of course to get to this point, Microsoft has had to spend a ton of money that would have put Microsoft into bankruptcy if it had stood as an online-search-only company.

Still, now that they’ve reached such a pivotal place in the search market, they can start turning its new traffic and popularity into a money-maker. This is a similar strategy that Microsoft took with the Xbox, actually.

Sure, Xbox cost MS tons of money and wasn’t profitable at first, but it was a worthwhile long-term investment.

So my point in all this? MS has deep pockets, and one failure will NOT kill them. Sure, it might see Microsoft evolve into a slightly less powerful company than it stands at right now, but the MS isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

I honestly believe this is a moot point anyhow as I truly think that 2012 will be the beginning of future success for Microsoft in the mobile sector. Still, if it doesn’t work out as intended? Microsoft has many other ventures it can fall back on and use to recover.
I understand that not everyone shares my viewpoint, and to each their own. For now all we can do is speculate, at least until late-2012 when Windows 8 first truly surfaces.

What do you think about Microsoft’s mobile strategy? Do you think they have anything to worry about? Do you believe a failure is the end for MS or do you agree they have many things to fall behind on? Share your thoughts below.

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