The growth of Bing

The surprising thing is that Microsoft has been stealthily building its search share in focused markets.

Do you use Microsoft’s Bing to search? I don’t. And I don’t remember anybody using it either. That’s why it was surprising to read in some articles that it is doing well. So I went to check.

Google’s market share worldwide is about 74 percent.

The other surprise is that Baidu of China is actually second at around 15 percent. That is not surprising since Google can’t be used in China, and Baidu practically dominates there. Third is Microsoft’s Bing Search with about nine percent. Yahoo also uses mostly Bing technology.

The surprising thing is that Microsoft has been stealthily building its search share in focused markets. Microsoft says it has 33 percent share of the US market, 25 percent in the UK, 18 percent in France and 17 percent in Canada.

Maybe they get this share when their search is embedded and used in many e-commerce or news sites. So when you do your search there, it registers for them. That may be the only way to explain. But whether by visible choice, or embedded, they seemed to be growing market share, albeit slowly.

Are you using a locked cell phone or not? If you get your unit from a telco and pay for it over a few years, it is probably a locked cell phone – meaning you cannot use it with other providers. This is, of course, an insurance that you will pay them. If you are a heavy user with high monthly charge, the telco would most probably offer you a subsidized locked phone to keep you loyal for some years.

Locked phones are disadvantageous in the sense that you cannot change your provider, and when you go to other countries, you cannot simply get your SIM card out and change it to one that is compatible in that country, which would cost less for use there. You will probably need to bring or get another open phone to use that.

There is an advantage, if only the potential thieves know. Thieves don’t want to steal locked phones, unless they know where or how to unlock it.

There is one thing that I want to clarify though, because I never got around to doing it.

I have had several locked phones, but after I have paid for it over so many years, the telco should offer to unlock it for free. After all, I did pay it fully and it is supposedly now mine.