Not exactly ad free, but no graphical ads… Google is providing both the search results and the search technology to what is essentially the iWon platform (it was created by the same people). Based on how hot text ads are right now, they expect to be profitable after the first month!
Hype or reality? You decide. I set it to my default home page after personalizing it. The site is damn fast and with the Google engine behind it with minimal design, how can you go wrong…
The target audience, according to Steinman, is disenchanted Yahoo users. “They have 40 different advertising placements on their homepage,” he notes. “And they changed their privacy policy six months ago to use their list for all sorts of marketing.” The nerve. Myway, meanwhile, says it won’t collect user info or send users any e-mail. Gordon Hodge, an analyst, predicts Yahoo isn’t likely to feel any heat from Myway anytime soon, commenting: “The question is how they can get the word out about it.” Indeed, unlike Iwon, which launched with a $70 million ad campaign in 1999, Myway “plans little advertising.” However, observes Steinman: “Google spent nothing on marketing and look where they are.”
