Are Google's troubles an opportunity for competition?

[Porter5Forces]

According to Porter's 5 forces theory, the barriers to entry for SE business is now significantly lowered due to this "google algo bug" crisis. Before that, the barriers to entry to SE biz is relative high due to the monopoly environment which is dominated by Google. I'm waiting to see if there are more aspiring SE companies that will stood up to compete with Google customer service.
Yes, what I can see is since "Price" is not a differentiating factor in this "free search" market, the only main difference is technology (relevancy) and Customer service.
At the moment, I would rate the customer service level of most SE companies a 4/10.

Therefore, in order to have a sustainable competitive advantage, new SE companies will need to have a differentiation strategy for more market share. DogPile.com is one SE company that has a slight differentiation advantage but its market awareness is not strong enough at the moment. We share wait and see...

Right now, the situation is really bad for webmaster like us who depend on the monopolistic characteristics of google.

Sad but true because when "All Things are Equal, the monopoly will always wins".

[edited by: Porter5Forces at 6:33 am (utc) on Mar. 22, 2006]

[Porter5Forces]

Another possible outcome will be the formation of strategic alliances of Yahoo Search, MSN Search, Amazon A9, GigaBlast(?). If the alliance is formed, these companies will benefit from the economies of scale where resources can be consolidated and shared. The cut-throat airlines industry is one good example of forming alliance for survival. (i.e. Star alliances)

[Gimp]

A company with a name like dogpile is a joke. Someone ought to think about branding them at least decently if not properly. Google has done their branding well.