SEARCH://Speed v. relevancy, availability, distribution and marketing

The subject of search commoditisation returned when Breakingviews stated that it is the hardware that supports Google's near-monopoly, not its algorithm (apparently responding to the New York Times article on the Googleplex).

However, there is more to it than just hardware (i.e. speed):

• Relevancy: algorithm, index size, personalisation, localisation.
• Availability: box in your explorer, toolbar, widgets, SMS-search.
• Distribution: affiliated sites carrying the search engine.
• Marketing: advertising, loyalty points, word-of-mouth.