Microsoft Puts Its Cash Horde to Work

[Editor's Note: In a departure from form, I will mostly blog shorter posts this week. It's a stylistic experiment; please offer feedback in comments or by e-mail.]

Earlier today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft and Verizon neared reaching a search deal. Google isn't out—in fact, the information giant has bested Microsoft in most past bidding wars that became public.

GOT A TIP OR RUMOR?

First rule of stories like this one: Somebody probably leaked. "Why?" is the first question to ask. The answer usually has something to do with somebody wanting to influence or scuttle negotiations. Wasn't there a Google-Verizon search deal rumor just a few months ago? Point: Anything can and probably will happen.

The global economic crisis is an opportunity for cash-rich companies like Microsoft to put their moolah to good use. It's a buyers market when nobody else has money to spend and you do. Microsoft should buy as many search deals as possible. It's time to approach every carrier.

According to ComScore, Google's worldwide mobile search share is about 60 percent. While seemingly bad for Microsoft, Google's dominance isn't without benefit. Microsoft can cut exclusive mobile search deals without much—none, really—pushback from those pesky trustbusters. Hey, Google's the one with big market share.

Mobile is the future of search and someday connected device advertising. Most people don't carry computers, but cell phones are nearly always present. Search is the one place where people would even welcome advertising, particularly if contextual to keywords for restaurants, bookstores, and other local commercial or services operations.

Go for broke, Microsoft—as the saying goes. Pay up for as many mobile search deals as you can get. It's also one way to make up for the Windows Mobile also-ran.

Unfortunately, ComScore's most recent public data on mobile search is for June (published in September), before the launches of Apple's iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1 (i.e., Google phone). Year over year, the number of U.S. mobile searchers grew 68 percent to 9.2 percent of mobile subscribers. The number was slightly higher in the United Kingdom (9.5 percent), but growth was slower (30 percent).

In terms of mobile search share, Google tops 60 percent in six countries measured by ComScore, and Microsoft only shows up meaningfully in two of them. Spend that cash horde on something with long-term benefits, Microsoft—and maybe you can get in mobile what you couldn't get on the PC: bigger search share.

[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].