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Microsoft, HP Sign Search Deal

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 3, 2008

SEATTLE - In a bid to boost its Web search traffic, Microsoft announced a deal Monday that makes its Live Search the default on Hewlett-Packard personal computers shipped in the United States and Canada starting in January.

The deal also calls for HP, the world's largest PC maker, to install copies of Internet Explorer with an extra Live Search toolbar on those computers. Microsoft said the toolbar also links to HP services such as its Snapfish digital photo printing site.

Since Microsoft called off its $47.5 billion offer to buy search competitor Yahoo, the company has been under pressure to prove it has a new plan for attracting more people to Live Search.
Google fields more than 10 times Microsoft's search traffic and has parlayed that into billions of dollars in advertising. Yahoo, the No. 2 search engine in the United States, attracts more than twice as much as traffic as Live Search.
Google has a distribution deal in place with Dell and Mozilla's Firefox Web browser.

"Every Dell machine we buy at home that comes with the Google toolbar, it's not a good day in my family when that happens," Ballmer said to a gathering of employees on May 1.

The Associated Press

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