That said, I disagree with the idea that Bing will never compete with Google. In my eyes, they’re competing today (especially in the fields of Travel and Shopping). To say that Bing will never overtake Google is a more reasonable statement – but it’s still naive.

Think about the David and Goliath stories in the tech industry that we’ve seen in the past decade: Apple vs. Microsoft, Google vs. Yahoo. Slowly but surely, with minor improvements and major marketing campaigns, Apple and Google stole market share from their much larger competitors. Considering the accelerated adoption curve of technology and the fact that there are no costs involved for the consumer in making a switch from one engine to another, Bing vs. Google is poised to be the next David vs. Goliath.

Bing hasn’t done everything right. For example, a full-blown traditional media campaign was probably not the best use of ad spend for this product. But if Bing can continue to improve its vertical-based search algorithm, they stand to become the first choice for users looking for information within those verticals. Next time I plan a trip, my research sure won’t start at Google or Yahoo.