Bing loses market share

Microsoft's Bing is losing marketshare in an ever increasingly competitive space, according to the latest figures from Net Applications.

Although the drop is slight, Bing Microsoft's new search tool is languishing down near the bottom of usage graphs. Net Applications' numbers show that Bing lost 0.2 percentage points, and fell to a 3.39 per cent marketshare of the global search market. Google lost similar market share but with a massive 83.13 per cent user base it could possibly survive the drop.

Baidu, the Chinese search site, has more users than Bing with its 4.38 per cent share, while Yahoo has managed to gather together just under seven per cent of all net searchers. AOL and ASK can only muster under one per cent, according to the statistics.

Just a glance at rival firm StatCounters' alternative graph, for July through to October usage, shows how deep the divide is. For US users Google's red tower on the graph is at skyscraper height with its 80-odd per cent. Nothing else even comes close. StatCounter found that not only did these firms have a low share but they were also losing users. In September, Bing fell from 8.51 per cent from 9.64 per cent in August, while Yahoo dropped from to 9.40 per cent from 10.50 per cent.

Globally, StatCounter said, Bing's share dropped from 3.58 per cent to 3.25 per cent, while Yahoo fell to 4.37 per cent from 4.84 per cent share. Meanwhile, Google broke the 90 per cent mark, rising to 90.54 per cent.

"The trend has been downwards for Bing since mid August," said Aodhan Cullen, chief executive at StatCounter, in a statement.

"The wheels haven't fallen off but the underlying trend must be a little worrying for Microsoft."

Bing's drop comes in stark contrast to the success it enjoyed back in August as reported by comScore.