Amazon Goes A-Search(engine)ing for Product-Focused Content
Silicon.com reports along with many others on Amazon competing head-to-head with Google to get the best technologists available for developing an advanced search technology focused on locating prices and information on consumer goods. While this could be seen primarily as a defensive aim at addressing Google's efforts with Froogle and other product-oriented Web search tools, it's also an acknowledgement that Amazon and others in the aggregation game are increasingly frustrated in trying to define their missions outside of search itself. Amazon provides excellent contextual tools around the search process, but with a world of outlets from which to choose and search engines that make them more accessible than ever, people continue to expect the widest possible scope of content from which to choose in order to make informed consuming decisions. When the whole world can be your boutique, why build a department store? See Monday's News Analysis for more...