Yahoo! CEO Takes A Few Shots At Google

[jmiller]

Adding a little fuel to the rivalry between Yahoo! and Google, Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel downplayed Google’s role in the future of the Internet at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, intimating that he feels Google is out of its league as the 21st century unfolds.

After touting Yahoo!’s vision to “create a whole new experience” in Internet media, combining technology with content, Semel busted Google down a few page ranks by implying the king of search had all of its eggs in one basket.

ZDNet’s Richard MacManus writes from the conference where John Battelle interviewed Semel.

“[Semel] thinks Yahoo! has a ‘much richer experience’ than Google - and that Yahoo! has much more diversified model, which is well-positioned for user-generated content, community, etc. Indeed he said that user-generated content is ‘of utmost importance’ to Yahoo! – ‘gigantic piece of what we do.’”

Semel acknowledged that Google was great at search, but Google rules only in that area, and that, in the future will not be enough, as only 5% of page views are relevant to search, reports BusinessWeek’s Rob Hof.

In fact Semel went as far as dropping Google’s overall Web presence, in terms of portal comparisons, behind Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL.

“Noting that Google has a number of services in beta, such as Gmail, with fewer customers than competing Yahoo! services, Semel said Google is ‘starting to look like a portal’ and ‘as a portal, they would probably be rated number four... We have a much more diversified model,’” writes CNet’s Elinor Mills.

Of course one might say that Yahoo! and Google seem to be moving toward different ends, and that this type of comparison, while lifting up Yahoo! (which is Semel’s job after all), is apples and oranges. Google appears to be embracing a different strategy altogether.

While Yahoo! may remain more ubiquitous on the Internet itself, in the future we may see Google logos plastered on everything surrounding the Internet, reminding us of how we got there in the first place.

[khurramali]

Google is first a Search Engine.

While Yahoo and MSN are Portals and search engines.

So it is just like comparing apples to oranges.

But as Google is growing with new products and services it will most probably take another form. From purely a search engine to a portal or somewhere in between.

[dharrison]

I agree khurramali, but they all result in the same outcome, be they search engines or portals and search engines. Yes Google are coming up with new products and services, but at the end of the day, their main focus is search (I search, therefore I am).

Hence why both parties are acting like schoolchildren ("Mines better than yours. ner ner na ner ner, etc).
I want to go to the conference when both CEOs just quit the bickering and have a good old-fashioned fight.

[outkast]

A good ol' fist fight? Not sure that's the answer but it would be nice for Yahoo, Google and MSN to learn to play together a little bit better. What if they all decided "Google, your algo is better so we will use your search results. Yahoo, your portal is better so we will emulate your portal. And MSN your..." umm, what is better at MSN?

Why cant we all just get along?

[onlinetv]

Originally Posted by outkast

A good ol' fist fight? Not sure that's the answer but it would be nice for Yahoo, Google and MSN to learn to play together a little bit better. What if they all decided "Google, your algo is better so we will use your search results. Yahoo, your portal is better so we will emulate your portal. And MSN your..." umm, what is better at MSN?

Why cant we all just get along?

Do you want one big arbitor of that power? Let them all fight forever. It is not only to our delight, but our benefit that there is competition and that it vary.

Google has not produced one "new" idea. Just adding the services the others have that define them as "portals" vs "search engine." Gmail is not "new" it is yahoo mail at Google.

Yahoo bought audionet (or were they broadcast.com by then?) in the end of the 90's preparing for the multimedia portal experience, their vision (once the dorks in the trailer were paid out) beyond being just a bookmark list. They wanted to be the mall you never left. Maybe still do. Bad for us, if they never leave yahoo, who will know our sites?