TIME on Google And Its Rivals

Lev Grossman in TIME, "Search And Destroy - A gang of Web-search companies is gunning for Google":

"Each of us has access to more data than anybody has ever had before, but still the trick is to find what we want when we want it. Given the size of the Internet — estimates run around 500 billion documents and counting — that's no easy task. Internet surfers do about 550 million Web searches a day. Amass that many people anywhere doing anything and somebody is going to try to sell them something. The market for advertising to those Web searchers is worth about $2 billion, and it's growing at a rate of 35% a year — far outpacing any other advertising medium. What's more, Google, the reigning sultan of search, is looking vulnerable. The combination of big money and big opportunity has attracted some mighty big players, including Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon. There's a street fight brewing over Internet search that will make the browser wars look like thumb wrestling."

Read the TIME Magazine article (via: Abakus)