Gradually increasing its markets share in countries where it has already launched, Bing is on the map to have a crack at Google’s current 70per cent dominant share. Creating search results including site links, maps, and website data, Bing offers a more visual approach than rival Google. “We want to bring an end to the current ‘in out’ nature of search. Where you click through to a result, find it’s not what you are looking for and then go back and search again. Our unique selling point is to give you the answers that you want in one page,” further explained Mr Highfield. He added that their largest effort would be to break consumer habit of going to Google first. “We know it’s a slow process. But Bing is landing extremely well as a cool brand with early adopters. And in this situation, we are the cool underdog. I believe that the popular conception of Google is shifting, the idea that Google equals cool and Microsoft equals nerdy is on the way out, a process that is being helped by our other well received products, such as Windows 7.”

Since its May launch, Microsoft’s search engine has gradually been improving with market share, increasing from its September 8.96per cent to 9.57per cent seen in October. However, this is vastly far away from the 70.6per cent market share controlled by Google.

Rolled out initially in the US, Stephen Wolfram’s software was once thought to be a real rival to Google, and is described as a “computational knowledge engine.” Instead of simply searching the internet for links to pages which have answers, Wolfram Alpha actually attempts to provide the answer itself, drawing information from various licensed and public databases. Explaining the benefit to Microsoft, the Wolfram team said that it would bring “tens of thousands of algorithms and trillions of pieces of data” to the engine. “When you search for specific food items on Bing, you’ll get a nutrition quick tab that allows you to learn more about it,” they explained, adding “You also get a nutrition facts label at the bottom of the results page that summarises all information on that food item in a very familiar and friendly format.”

The deal came about after Wolfram provided an Application Programming Interface (API), effectively allowing third parties to incorporate their tools into their own platforms.