Microsoft, Yahoo Make Play To Topple Google
BALDWIN: It started off as just a couple guys in a garage. But it became one of the biggest companies on the planet. Talking about Google.</s>HOLMES: Mm-hmm.</s>BALDWIN: Pretty much dominates the online-search market.</s>HOLMES: Yes. But is that about to change? Two powerful companies came together this year in hopes of taking over. Josh Levs with the story.</s>LEVS: Some are calling it Microhoo!, this combination of Microsoft and Yahoo getting together to try to challenge the dominance of Google. Will this change the way you search online? We're going to get some answers now. Steven Levy is joining us from "Wired" magazine. Steven, thank you.</s>STEVEN LEVY, "WIRED" MAGAZINE: Thank you.</s>LEVS: All right. So talk to us. For a big picture here, do Microsoft and Yahoo really have a shot at challenging the dominance of Google as the ultimate way to search online?</s>LEVY: I think it's a real, real long shot to think that even in the long term, you know, this Microsoft-Yahoo combination -- right? It's more like ying, because it's Microsoft search engine Bing, which Yahoo is going to use. They really can't supplant Google in the -- the medium, or even long term, because Google has a lock on Web search. Seventy-five percent in the U.S, even more -- up to 92 percent in western Europe. Microsoft is now a strong No. 2.</s>LEVS: If they don't have a shot at becoming No. 1, why even go for it? What are they going to get out of it?</s>LEVY: Well, first of all, there's money to be made by being a strong No. 2. And they could inch up their share, particularly if they buy their way into it by buying placement on browsers. The second thing is, they're -- Google doesn't have permanence everywhere. There's different -- the Web moves fast, and there's different ways that search is going to go into people's lives. There's going to mobile search, video search, all kinds of other searches. So I think Microsoft puts itself in a strong position now to be a competitor in these future areas of search.</s>LEVS: Is there a place that a lot of people out there are saying, 'You know what? I like Google, except it keeps doing this thing wrong'?</s>LEVY: Right.</s>LEVS: Where is Google weak?</s>LEVY: Well, it's interesting; Microsoft actually tried to identify a few places, so they concentrated on a few areas, like health and travel. But it's very difficult to scale these things when you kind of pinpoint and take a rifle shot in search there. I think right now, the difficulty is going to be the delivering much more varied, multimedia results, and keeping the simplicity.</s>LEVS: In reality, for most people out there who sit down at their computers and search for information, are they likely to see any kind of sea change in the next couple years?</s>LEVY: Well, I think we're to see improvements. This is good for the -- the consumer. It's good that Google has a lot of competition now, and the competition's going to be focused really to -- to where it belongs, into the -- the -- the company which is most competitive with Google in -- in other areas. And then we'll search companies like Facebook and Twitter, in terms of real-time search of what people are doing now, and to search their social graphs. So I think the -- the consumers, you know, may not see like a -- a big sea change, a big bang. But they're going to see improvements coming from all directions.</s>LEVS: All right. Well, Steven Levy, "Wired" magazine, thank you so much.</s>LEVY: Thank you.</s>LEVS: All right, guys. Back to you.</s>HOLMES: A recall you need to know about involves one of the most popular cars in the country, and one of these could be sitting in your driveway. And it's even -- the recall has to do -- it's a deadly defect even.</s>BALDWIN: Talking about Honda.</s>HOLMES: Talking about Honda, yes.</s>BALDWIN: Still to come, we'll tell you what's going wrong with several of their models. Also, a question for you: is gang violence considered a public- health issue? One Chicago doctor I talked to this week says yes. I spoke with her and a young man whose life she saved, a gang member on Chicago's street.</s>BALDWIN: We're in a crew car headed from downtown Chicago to the city's southwest side. It's an area with known pockets of basically gang activity. And we're going to this interview; we're talking to a current gang member. He's willing to share his story about the violence in Chicago, but he's only willing to do it as long as we keep him in the car, we don't share his face and we don't drive into any other neighborhoods, any other gang turf, just to keep and our crew safe.