Friday, April 18, 2008

Microsoft acquires Farecast



Yesterday's disclosure that Microsoft had acquired Farecast was a surprise to many in the travel industry. Is this a new online travel initiative from the original creators of Expedia? Will Farecast be integrated into Microsoft's Live Search?
First a bit of background. I was first introduced to Oren Etzioni through my client
Fetch Technologies. This was back in 2002 when the company was called Hamlet. The founders of Fetch are well recognized experts in AI as is Oren Etzioni . I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical during my initial discussion with Oren on whether a predictive fare model would be embraced by the travel consumer. My next interaction with Oren was at a PhoCusWright Travdex conference in Dallas back in 2005. My colleague and friend Philip Wolf commented to me that Oren's presentation at Travdex was the most technical he had seen. This presentation helped reinforce that Farecast was more than a service that tracked historical fares to recommend a buy or no-buy decision. The algorithms created by Mr. Etzioni use advanced AI technology to look at historical fare history creating a recommendation based on complex data mining techniques. It is my belief that this is the core value recognized by Microsoft and thus triggered the acquisition. I doubt if Microsoft is interested in becoming a major travel player, but I do anticipate that the Farecast technology will be expanded to other non-travel segments and incorporated into Microsoft's Live Search. Of course things could change if the Microsoft/Yahoo deal went through as Yahoo! has many travel properties including Farechase which was the first meta-travel search engine.

10 comments:

Tower Droper said...

Very nice blog. Lets visit mine.
http://marmaristravelguide.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

酒店經紀酒店打工 酒店工作酒店上班酒店兼差酒店兼職打工兼差打工兼職台北酒店 酒店應徵 禮服酒店 酒店經紀 打工 兼差

ugg boots sale said...

For those of you who not aware of Stylish ghd, there're a hair straightener corporation and the name stand for Which. ugg boots.GHD straighteners have been around in operation for about ten years now and they have managed to renovate the way hairdressers along with clients all over the world handle as well as theme their locks.ghd straighteners uk.Within the last few five to six many years, Ghd have came up with a brand new restricted edition hair styler or treasure set. pandora beads.Before, we have been dealt with to new earthernware stylers in variety of colours including purple, black, pink, white in addition to silver and even black.ghd straighteners uk. These supply was really common as they start to provided their fans plus customer to unique something notes on unique and even additional special on the stand matte black styler accessible at all costume parties.

Anonymous said...

徵信社
徵信

cheap electronics said...

nike shoes & Puma Shoes Online- tn nike,puma shoes,puma cat, baskets cheap nike shox, air max.cheap nike shox r4 torch, cheap nike air, nike running shoes air max, puma speed and more. Paypal payment.nike running shoes Enjoy your shopping experience on Nike & Puma Shoes Online Store.

prom dresses 2011 said...

Very nice blog. Lets visit mine.

About Medicine Blog said...

It is my belief that this is the core value recognized by Microsoft and thus triggered the acquisition.

game vera said...

Buy high quality nds card, nintendo ds card online, www.ndstrade.com provide best r4 revolution, nintendo ds r4 for DS Lite with the lowest purchase high quality r4 ds, r4 card, r4 sdhc, r4i sdhc, r4i gold, Nintendo DS R4, n5. Enjoy the cheapest cards for R4 Adapter.
Discount ds m3 card, m3i zero, m3 real, m3 ds real for DS Lite at ndstrade.com,enjoy m3 card with high quality and low price.
Cheap ez flash card - Get quality ez flash vi Card, ez flash 3 in 1, Ez Flash DS at hottest prices.
Discount acekard 2i, Purchase acekard Card for acekard 2i online to save more.
Buy DSTT Card online, Choose from Cheap supercard, Enjoy wonderful cyclods game with quality micro sd from r4dsnds.com.
Buy PS3 Jailbreak, PS3 key online, Choose from Cheap PS3 Controller and PS3 move. Enjoy wonderful Ps3 games with quality PsBreak.

One Strap Wedding Dress said...

At the end of the day we have an image which is 35 years old, with an interesting and sordid history. Albums with the controversial image are still available *world wide* in recent pressings. You can walk into a record store in the UK and buy it. The image is widely available on the internet, including sites like amazon.co.uk. So blocking the Wikipedia article discussing the image simply makes no sense. (they didn't even block the image itself!)