Microsoft's Lu: Bing Is Only 'First Step'

[Ongoing] Making his first public appearance since being hired to lead Microsoft's online services division in January, Microsoft's Qi Lu said the launch of the company's new search engine—'Bing'—would provide "new energy" to the search industry. "This is a really good event for the industry because there will be more choices," he told SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan at the SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle. He said that 'Bing' was the only "first step in a long journey" for Microsoft's search plans. "We are blessed with the amount of commitment Microsoft ( NSDQ: MSFT ) has made," he said. "So we can expect in the future we will have lots of ... technological innovation…. A whole lot more can be done," he said. While Microsoft is spending up to $100 million on an advertising campaign to promote Bing, Lu also emphasized the importance of the quality of the product. "The internet is an extremely viral medium," he said. So, if the product is good, Lu said, it will sell itself. More to ... (link)