Google, the popular search engine that’s become the choice of Internet
users worldwide, gained another corporate client Monday after an agreement
penned with AT&T WorldNet.
Ma Bell’s Internet service provider (ISP) arm became the third provider in
recent months to incorporate the Google engine on it Web site, following
major national ISPs AOLand EarthLink.
WorldNet is the 10th-largest
ISP in nation, with 1.4 million dial-up users in the U.S.
The change in search engine clients, AT&T WorldNet officials said, comes
after customer suggestions for a switch to Google.
“We went to the only source that counts for feedback on WorldNet’s site
design-current subscribers,” said Jim Davey, WorldNet vice president of
partnership marketing and site services. “Customers told us they love the
service’s reliability and award-winning customer service, but wanted a more
attractive homepage that incorporated their need for simplified navigation
and premium-branded content”
Nominally a free search engine, Google executives have been very successful
migrating its service into the corporate world, at the expense of
Overture, the company that was until recently
the king of the paid search engine industry.
Google’s service, an enhancement of Overture’s existing program, is much
more advertiser friendly, letting ads placed for services at one price get
changed to meet competitor pricing — a service Overture was unable or
unwilling to provide.
The similarities between the Overture and Google business services prompted
Overture to file a patent
infringement lawsuit against the other in April.