Bill Gates Says Future of Advertising is Online
Del.icio.us This week, Microsoft Chairman , Bill Gates stated that he will spend the remainder of his employment at Microsoft, focused on advertising and marketing services.Speaking at Microsoft's annual Strategic Account Summit, Bill Gates said that his main focus before he left his full-time position would be on 'search, buyers and sellers'. While that will only be about a year since he is leaving in mid-2008, his comment, 'That will be my biggest thing', is fairly telling.
'We're saying newspapers will go online, and there will be massive innovation that comes out of that,' he said 'We're saying that TV, the biggest ad market in the world, will completely go online and have the kind of targeting interaction that you only get out on the Web today.'
According to BizReport, the shift to online, with its associated lower costs and enhanced user experience will, Gates said, contribute to the shift of advertising online over the next five years and beyond.
This is important announcement in the online marketing world. First, he is predicting Microsoft's future, and the future is online advertising, particularly search. Not a small change, considering their business has been primarily Windows and Office. And secondly, he is admitting that their future is to catch up to Google.In my opinion, this is a watershed moment - and one that may define the future of the Internet. Microsoft has $50 billion cash in the bank to make the shift.
Labels: Bill Gates, Microsoft, online advertising, online marketing
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