Microsoft Corp signed a deal with HP, the leading PC manufacturer, to install Live Search toolbar on all HP PCs that would be shipped to Canada and the United States from Januray 2009. The deal also includes MSN Live search set as the default search engine on all HP browsers.
Kevin Johnson, President of Platforms and Service Division in Microsoft stated, “This agreement with HP is a strategic indicator of our increased focus on securing broad-scale distribution for Live Search. This is the most significant distribution deal for Live Search that Microsoft has ever done, and we are very pleased to be partnering with HP to help bring Live Search to millions of consumers across North America.”
Microsoft is planning to provide a custom Live Search toolbar for HP customers to provide additional search experience to its users using Microsoft Silverlight.
Microsoft’s plan to increase Live Search users should be targeted on innovative search experience, pleasing features and creative packages similar to Google. Forced search strategies would not be beneficial for Microsoft in the long run.