John Battelle presents a proposal for MS and Yahoo to take on Google. It is nothing new, has been presented before but it illustrates the desperation at Yahoo and MS at the widening gap between them and the Search master. Actually, Steve Flinn posted the comments which are more in line with what’s going to happen

However, at first blush, as a shareholder I would oppose it for two major reasons:

1) Every general wants to fight the last war again, and search is the last war as far as I’m concerned. Personalization is the upcoming war — that’s clearly where Google is heading across all its apps, not just search. And that means that’s not only where advertising is heading, but computing in general. Search will always be important, but recommendations and application level personalization will likely become even more important. I don’t see personalization getting ceded to a JV — it’s too strategic for both Microsoft and Yahoo (and I think Microsoft holds the stronger cards of the two in this area — but Google is clearly the player to beat)

I agree. The online search war is over. Google won. The next battle ground is in “personalization” and “mobile” and how you tie the online and mobile world together. Google hasn’t exactly wowed users with its simplistic offerings in the mobile arena. Their subscriber base is in low millions and presents an opportunity for both Microsoft and Yahoo to build some lead and momentum. They are striking deals with operators that weren’t possible before – yes, they are willing to do white-label deals. Google is also coming around and leaving its arrogance at the door to offer some compromises. In mobile, at least for short-term, it is a distribution and reach game. Mobile Enterprise Search is also an untapped territory for search players and MS is better positioned. MS has done a poor job of leveraging its resources and relationships to come up with a coherent strategy, but the motivation to beat Google keeps them up at night. Interesting battle to watch for the coming months and years.