So, SearchWiki came, died, and rose from the dead. But whether you like it, is irrelevant. Why would Google launch this new product with no beta first? We had Google Suggest for a few months and then it was live for all to use and see. But Google SearchWiki becomes live within a few weeks of even hearing about it (Although SearchWiki was in beta for a year it was a very sloppy rollout and partly why there is a large outrage). I have 6 reasons why I think Google did this.
1. IE has about 75% browser market share
Google obviously believes user data (via a browser) is important or they wouldn’t have launched Google Chrome. Google has only 1-3% of browser market share, depending on what stats you read. This is significantly lower than Microsoft and based on what Bill Gates (or Ballmer?) said a while back “We have cutting-edge technology that will jump us 2-3 years ahead of the search-competition, with or without the buyout of Yahoo, although that would help, it’s not necessary” (paraphrase; no citation, cause it’s hard to find the link). So, obviously this browser data is important if Gates (or Ballmer) says this will get them 2-3 years ahead of Google/Yahoo.