“Microsoft is dangling prizes made by arch-nemesis Apple to entice Australian web surfers to give its online search products a second chance,” Asher Moses reports for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Through its local joint venture with the Nine Network, ninemsn, Microsoft recently completed a full revamp of Live Search to improve results and integrate video, images, news and maps into search queries,” Moses reports.
“But in what is perhaps a sign of desperation given Google’s growing market share dominance, ninemsn is running a new Live Search promotion – Secret Search – offering surfers the chance to win prizes including the iPod Nano, Shuffle and Touch just for conducting searches,” Moses reports.
“A Microsoft source said using competitor products was frowned on at Microsoft and the company was offering large discounts on Windows Mobile-based smartphones to dissuade staff from buying iPhones,” Moses reports. “At ninemsn, staff are forbidden from using Google search.”
Moses reports, “Ninemsn’s head of Live Search, Alex Parsons, said if the Zune music player was sold in Australia it would have been offered as a prize instead.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "Nate" and "Matt" for the heads up.]
If Microsoft were dangling Zunes, not only would we tell them to wipe better, but they’d drive the three shut-ins they have left to Google, too.
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