Bing Doesn't Bust Out

At least, that's what comScore tells us. Last month, the online metrics company had us all gaping when it reported that for one week in June, Bing had pushed Microsoft's (MSFT) share of American searches from 8 percent to an impressive 12.1 percent. But now all of June's numbers are out, and Microsoft has settled back in the basement.

In comScore's latest figures, Microsoft's share of the American search market rose not four percentage points but one-tenth of that, from 8 percent to 8.4 percent. All the buzz, all the talk about how Bing introduced some remarkably convenient new features, all those millions in marketing, pushed Microsoft up just a fraction. Google's (GOOG) share of the market remained steady at 65 percent, which means that those miniscule Microsoft gains came at the expense of Yahoo and other, smaller search players.

What does this all mean? Short-term numbers like these aren't exactly predictive, after all. But Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Vascellaro writes that Barclays analyst Douglas Anmuth expected much better numbers for Bing and called the results a "sigh of relief" for Google. Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer announces, "Bing's first month a bust," and declares, "Based on this lackluster first month's showing—and recent survey results suggesting 98 percent of searchers won't switch to Bing as their primary search engine—there's little reason to get excited."

But that hasn't stopped Microsoft from ramping up the anti-Google rhetoric, especially when it comes to Google's new Chrome operating system. Noting that no one's actually seen Chrome OS, CEO Steve Ballmer told an audience of chuckling Microsoft technology partners, "Who knows what this thing is?" And Bill Gates told CNet that he's seen plenty of rival operating systems come and go, and Windows is still here. "There's many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways," he said. "In some ways I am surprised people are acting like there's something new."

That's a lotta hat, but as comScore's Bing numbers show, Microsoft has yet to deliver on the cattle.