Microsoft Continues Its Craigslist Chase
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Written By Reprise Media | March 22, 2006 | Share This
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A little over a month ago we told you about Microsoft’s budding classifieds portal, Windows Live Expo. This “dynamic social listing service” is currently available in beta form to select portions of the US.
The New York Times today has more on the developing product, which some say may be poised to take on Craigslist as the predominant provider of local classified ads.
From the NY Times article: (reg req’d)
“Garry Wiseman, Microsoft’s product unit manager for Windows Live Expo: ‘I’ve seen some sites attempt to create these kinds of services, but they have to build it up, which takes forever. We already had this massive network.’ Wiseman said Microsoft would not charge for classified listings in the short term, but it might charge businesses to post job or auto listings, as Craigslist does. He also said Microsoft was exploring a way to distribute the ads in print publications owned by other companies, and share in the revenue.”
Even though you can’t argue with free, Microsoft will still have an uphill battle, in my opinion.
Mike Yamamoto says it best in this post on CNET Blogma:
“Even if Microsoft does become a viable competitor to Craiglist with Windows Live Expo, ultimate success won’t be easy. The wildfire popularity of Craigslist may have been a fluke, but that fluke now generates 3 billion page views a month - and, even more important, a kind of grassroots loyalty that few companies can replicate.”
Topics: Craigslist |