It’s official! 
Microsoft and Yahoo will be working together.

They have joined forces . Some might argue that they are ganging up on Google, Microsoft will power Yahoo's search, and at the same time, Yahoo will be powering on Bing.com (Microsoft’s new search platform…formerly known as MSN).

You can get all the details here:

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-29release.mspx

…and here:

http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal/Default.aspx

If you are a marketer, this coould be good news for you.  Why?

It’s simple. Google will have more competition now that Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to team up. We all know what increased competition can mean:  

1. Perhaps Google's advertising charges will decrease. That means your ad costs might go down. 
   
2. Google might have to treat its advertisers more respectfully because now there are some viable alternatives. 
   

Of course, this is all just speculation.  The deal is not scheduled to be finalized until 2010 so there won't be any overnight changes, but we marketers can all dream of these great advantages, can't we?

Please comment to this post to let me know what you think.

- Angela