Serious Q: What are the strongest arguments that Google is *not* a monopoly in web search?
Serious Q: What are the strongest arguments that Google is not a monopoly in web search?
(my understanding is that most are based on a variant of "searchers are free to choose" -- the counter being "GG is 95%+ of the market, meeting the definition of monopoly")
They don't have pricing power? I.e., if they were to charge even one cent per search, their market share would quickly erode.
It is a consumer play. Consumers are finicky. If Google has a series of missteps , then consumers will start looking elsewhere.
This is the only reason that I think it is still viable for Bing et all to still be in the game. However, as a counter argument, consumers still buy gas (Shell, Exxon, etc) even after the mistakes Shell does by polluting the environment