I knew this would happen – I’m getting complaints about the relative sizes of the fish in my Google/Yahoo/Microsoft cartoon. Here is an example:
From: Parker, David
Subject: cartoon for 2/2/08
Good day,
I think you have a minor error with the cartoon for 2/2/08.
If you’re picking the fish size based on search market share, then the Microsoft fish should actually be smaller than the Yahoo fish … if you’re sizing them based on Revenue, then the Microsoft fish should be much larger than all the others!
MS revenue: $51.2B
Google revenue: $16.6B
Yahoo revenue: $6.7B
Food for thought
I get a whole lot of e-mail every day reminding me that size DOES matter. In this case, I’m referring to the relative share of the online search market, where Google controls about 75% of the business. Here the fish are drawn with correct relative volumes – the Microsoft and Yahoo! fish are roughly spherical and the Google fish is flat, viewed from the side. Our readers need to think in three dimensions.