A PYMNTS Company

US: Yale professor challenges Microsoft, Google rivalry claims

 |  October 6, 2013

One year after Microsoft first aired its commercial promoting search engine Bing – with claims that users prefer Bing to Google nearly 2:1 – Yale professor Ian Ayres decided to replicate the study on his own, with interesting results.

In a blog post, Ayres explains that Microsoft’s study was based on a sample of only 1,000 participants; since, the company offers the study online through website BingItOn.com, but refuses to release the results – despite nearly five million participants having voted between Bing and rival Google.

In his own study, Ayres reports that 53 percent of participants preferred Google, compared with just 41 percent preferring Bing.

Following the results of his own study, the professor said “Google has a colorable deceptive advertising claim against Microsoft.

Full Content: Freakonomics

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