If you tallied up the number of searches executed any given week, the top four search engines combined — Google, Yahoo Search, MSN (and its new Live search) and Ask.com — would account for 98.3% of all searches in the U.S. Those top four engines clearly have a hold on the American public. But new search sites, perhaps inspired by the financial gains of Google and Yahoo, are still being introduced; as of last week, a total of 1,592 different search engines were visited by U.S. Internet users.With the top four accounting for 98.3% of all searches, is there any room for these secondary and tertiary engines? Maybe the more interesting question is: given Google’s dominance of the marketplace, with 64% of executed searches in the U.S, and its near ubiquitous use across all manner of ages, income levels and location, who is using those 1,598 other engines?
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1668035,00.html