‘Internet search will now move in a new direction’

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: users behave. There are theories that are hard to test in the physical world; it is possible to see how they unfold on the internet.

Yahoo has talked of doubling operating cash flow by 2010. Are you counting on these ideas to improve financial performance and dethrone Google as the search king?

Let’s first look at the realities of today’s search industry. Three companies dominate the market, giving users limited choice. Becoming a serious search player requires a massive capital investment of about $300 million. We are trying to remove all barriers to entry for software developers, who have ideas about how to improve search.

In May, we released a developer platform, called SearchMonkey, that lets programmers customise how our search results are displayed. Our new software, BOSS (build your own search software) takes Yahoo’s open strategy to the next level by providing Yahoo search infrastructure and technology to developers and companies to help them build their own search experiences. Essentialy, it is a self-service web services model for developers and start-ups, who can quickly build and deploy new search experiences.

BOSS offers two options for companies and developers and has partnered with top technology universities to drive search experimentation, innovation and research into next generation search. We are already working with select partners to build a more relevant brand or site-specific web search experience. We are also working with universities like Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, MIT and IIT Bombay.

This essentially means anyone can build their own search service. Aren’t you worried that an innovative startup could gain more than Yahoo?

To open up, you need an intellectual commitment and need to believe that you alone are not smart enough to invent everything. With just three companies dominating the space, you can only expect that much innovation. More participants will increase innovation. This will essentially disrupt the search market and make room for more players and provide consumers with more choice. And since we are not the market leaders, we don’t face the greatest risk.

According to comScore data, Google had a 62% share of the US search market in May, while we had 21% and MSN 9%. Our prediction models suggest that Google could lose a big chunk of its market share, as BOSS partners and players come in.