Bing’s Stefan Weitz: “It’s hard to break that habit” of Google
REDMOND, WA — Stefan Weitz, Director of Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft, says that internal research has found that users develop a “habit” with their search engine of choice.
In the first of a two-part interview with with Beet.TV, he does not refer to Google by name, but clearly referenced it. He said that gaining market share in search is a “long term play” and getting users to switch is not easy.
Citing internal Microsoft research, he said that using a search engine becomes a sort of unconscious activity like brushing teeth before bed or . (See this reference at 1:50.)
He explains the unique elements of the new service including hover previews, categorized search and price predictors.
He refers to Bing as a “Decision Engine” which incorporates search, but provides far more.
He also explains some of the marketing which includes advertising and placement of Bing on OEM equipment. (I have noticed that Bing is the featured search engine on my new Verizon BlackBerry Tour.)
This is the first of several interviews shot at Microsoft headquarters last week. We will have much more on Silverlight, IE Explorer and the Channel 9, the progenitor of business video blogs. More from Seattle from MSNBC.com and thePlatform. Stay tuned.
Andy Plesser, Managing Editor