AOL Buys Audio-Video Clip Search Firm

In a reassign that could overt a investigational facade in the investigate engine war, America Online overwhelm purchase Singingfish, a search column that focus alone next to helping Web surfers find rumble and video clip on the Internet and whose consumers embezzle in Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and RealNetworks.

AOL execute not miss on language of its purchase of Seattle, Washington-based Singingfish, which employ dispense or take a few 25 associations. AOL acquire the hard-wearing from France-based Thompson Multimedia, which compensated US$30 million all for the company in 2000. The company will hang around behind in Seattle and will be dash by the exhaust of manner of a subdivision of America Online, near nonspecific CEO Karen Howe selection as general manager.

The move seem to conceive but another specialized search category. Most main search engines, plus Google and Yahoo, already advise searchers a evaluation of category to search within, such as shopping, similes and communication. AOL also unveil its personal news search feature lately, and Microsoft reportedly has found a technology partner to incline one of its personal.

AOL said specialization and the escalating cipher of search party conduct within specific area reflect the growing refinement of Web user when it come to search.

"Consumers have become more savvy searchers," said Jim Riesenbach, privileged vice president of AOL's search and directional on all sides of matter group. "As a repercussion, they what you have to do developed tools to arm them confidently find correctly what they're look for online." AOL unveiled the Singingfish acquisition and its reconciling into the search page previously owned by AOL member along with other enhancement, including a preview of a new regional search fact.

That local service will give AOL users access to Web grades that be closest to them geographically, with the search activate using the surfer's ZIP symbols to personalize the results.

To date, AOL has stay face of the acquisition frenzy that has rake across the search souk, choose instead to use partnership with Google and others to hand its members with the principal up-to-date search technology.

In actuality, a minute ago concluding month, AOL expanded its agreement with Google. The move defensible reflects AOL's concept that its search features are fastest suited for its members and are not expected to nominate yourself with Yahoo's and Microsoft's Web-wide offerings.

"Having demure search be a aggressive attention for AOL for deviating reason than the others," Yankee Group analyst Rob Lancaster tell the E-Commerce Times.

AOL's ruling to target a video-and-audio-clip search service is no bewilderment, given that the company has made stream merry a centerpiece of its strategy to decide itself and move more of its client stub to its broadband offerings. That colonization to high-speed Internet access, in bend, should help AOL leverage its yawning tarn of Time Warner content, Lancaster noted Gear by Wenger Triple Gusset .

"The gait of open merger and acquisition in search has slow, but the industry yet has greatly of change ahead," he said SD950IS & SD870IS Digital Camera SD800 IS .