Financial details were not disclosed, but
Schmidt said the companies will share revenue from
search-advertising fees.
"The real reason we do this is for users," Schmidt said.
People "turn the Dell machine on, and everything is
integrated right there. (This deal) is a turnkey solution
for search."
A Dell representative said that the deal will not hamper
consumer choice on the Dell desktop, however. "Our
motivation is to deliver customers tools that enable them to
search and organize information quickly and easily, right
out of the box...Dell customers will have the option of
choosing Microsoft as their default if they prefer."
The deal covers Dell PCs sold to consumers and certain
corporations.
As well as the Dell agreement, Schmidt talked about other
coming Google services in a question-and-answer session at
the conference.
For example, Google plans to introduce a targeted voice
advertising service for Internet radio in the coming months,
he said. The company is working to convert technologies for
creating radio ads to complement its own advertising
platform.
"Targeted advertising is known to work...There's every
reason to think it will for radio," he said.
Google is eyeing other complementary services for
advertising. One such service would allow marketers to buy
"run of site" promotional packages for itself or for
partners' sites, Schmidt said.
The Web company is testing pay-per-call plans, which let
marketers advertise in keyword search results and pay only
when people call a 1-800-number for the promoted service.
"Eventually, we'll roll it out," he said.
The Google-Dell deal comes on the same day Yahoo and eBay
announced a three-year marketing deal that effectively
combines their resources against rivals Google and
Microsoft. Under terms of that agreement, Yahoo will provide
graphical and search-related ads to eBay sites. In turn,
eBay's PayPal will be the default online payment service on
Yahoo.
In answer to a question about competition, Schmidt said eBay
isn't a rival but rather a partner that he sees will grow
closer to Google in the coming years. eBay will likely grow
stronger because of its partnership with Yahoo, he said.
In contrast, Schmidt said he views Microsoft and Yahoo as
clear competitors.
To be sure, Yahoo and Microsoft were reportedly vying for
search-bar real estate on Dell PCs before Google sealed the
deal. Schmidt said that Dell has been testing its software
for the last six months.
Still, at least one analyst was largely unimpressed with the
Google-Dell agreement.
Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Techworld, said: "It
strikes me as a great deal for Dell, as they are basically
selling dead space, and a bad deal for Google, as I doubt
that they will collect many incremental eyeballs beyond the
ones they have now."
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