Google, Bing, and Apple Battle It Out For Search, Content, and Digital Music Supremacy

This week, Microsoft raised the stakes in its online battle against Google. In June, Microsoft launched a new entertainment vertical to its Bing search engine, which among other things aggregates full-track streaming from Zune. The service also includes details on upcoming tours, as well as purchase links within results for any artist, album or song. This week, Microsoft unveiled even more features of this site, enhancing Bing with an entertainment page that will let users watch TV shows, play games and listen to music -- all without leaving the Web site. As competition mounts. Bing continues to push the envelope, looking for innovative ways to connect fans with online content. Recognizing the importance of search, Microsoft has devoted significant resources to their new search engine, which seems to be a pivotal piece of their entertainment content strategy. While Bing has invested, Google continues to re-invest and develop its entertainment content strategy. Google has already put together a similar package targeting entertainment content, and is now building its own music download service that would be tied directly to the Google search engine as well as Android mobile operating system. According to recent research, nearly 10 percent of all Internet search queries are entertainment-related, with music lyrics alone accounting for 70 percent of those searches. With the recent Bing upgrades, Microsoft is trying to position itself as a better entertainment discovery tool than Google. While both companies have positioned themselves well, who has the advantage?Has Bing insulated itself enough from major investment by Google into the entertainment content space? Does Google have the product assortment to take on Apple in the battle for digital content supremacy? Or, will all these efforts prove futile, derailed by expensive lawsuits from the recording industry that reduce the ability of online search engines to music that infringes on their copyrights?

Despite a sound set of plans, it is hard to believe that Bing's share and investment in the entertainment content arena is sufficiently protected. In fact, many market analysts continue to bet that Bing's success may erode once Google starts to invest significantly in the online music sector. Sources recently confirmed that, later in 2010, Google will be launching a major music download service tied directly to its search engine. Currently, music searches on Google link to full-song streams provided by MySpace Music, as well as Twitter feeds and other information. While Google's plans are unclear, the potential market share impact of such a movement may be significant, particularly considering the capital that Google has to promote and develop such a product. During a recent developers conference for the company's Android mobile platform, Google announced the acquisition of Simplify Media, a content-syncing technology that the company demonstrated can be used to automatically sync and stream music purchased online to any Android phone containing the technology. Whether this is an interim step toward an eventual streaming subscription service is unclear. Still, if this technology is widely adapted, and telecommunications firms adopt android & other similar open source configurations, Google's market share, as well as stock value, will rise. While initial plans look sound, one source of potential interference is the aggressive efforts the recording industry has been making, forcing search engines to remove links to infringed material. In June, BPI, the trade group representing U.K. record labels, issued a take down notice to Google, demanding it remove links to 17 songs from third-party websites it deems infringing, such as RapidShare and MegaUpload. Google has not yet responded, but the next moves will be telling. Should Google comply, it would set a precedent that will almost certainly result in the sending of additional take down notices from every music label and well as publishers eager to eliminate pirate links on the world's most popular search engine. Furthermore, such an order would directly impact Google's long term future plans. If, on the other hand, Google refuses, the scene could be set for a court battle bigger than the $1 billion lawsuit Viacom brought against YouTube. This lawsuit has already gone to appeals after Google won a recent summary judgment to dismiss the case.

As for Bing, while Microsoft leadership has assured the music industry that it will comply with any take down requests, it does not seem to have any appetite to change or alter the search algorithm that determines search results. While Bing's plans continue to garner interest, ultimately, it is Google that has the market's attention. In May, Google's search engine has a 72 percent U.S. market share, with Yahoo second at 14.4 percent and Bing third at 9.2 percent. Despite this, when it comes to music, no one can forget to include Apple in the discussion; a giant, who currently commands over 70 percent of digital music download sales in the United States. While Apple does not yet have a presence in online search, both Microsoft and Google continue to aggressively compete with Apple on the rapidly growing mobile platform -- Google with Android and Microsoft with the new Windows 7. For outsiders, it continues to remain unclear who will emerge in this battle for digital content supremacy. The ultimate victor will probably succeed by tying together a cloud-based music service with an online search and discovery system, while leveraging a strong path to mobile technologies and telecommunications devices.