PaidContent's Joseph Tartakoff says Yahoo could lose as many as three more percentage points of search share to Google over the next year to 18 months, as its distribution deals with HP and Acer PCs
run out. Yahoo told Dow Jones, which broke the story, that it may lose some share, but not as much as 3%, "because consumers will continue to use Yahoo search even if they buy a new computer
pre-loaded with a rival's toolbar."
Tartakoff notes that in the case of HP, Microsoft has replaced Yahoo as the default search engine, a move which could significantly boost Live Search's
share of the market. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a similar plan with Dell, which went into effect in February. Research firm Gartner says that, together, HP and Dell account for 56% of new
PC shipments in the United States. In the end, Tartakoff says that Microsoft could eventually get a four percentage point boost from its new distribution agreements.
According to the most
recent figures from comScore, Yahoo's search share fell to 20.6% in February, down from 21.6% a year ago. Microsoft's share dropped to 8.2%, down from 9.6% a year ago.
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