Well, once in awhile, a prediction comes true. Jeeves, Ask.com's butler is retired, but Barry Diller is finally trying to get the Ask.com acquisition to really pay off for IAC. See the news below from MarketingVox, and then see my words to Barry from April 2005.
From MarketingVox, November 2006:
InterActiveCorp. Chairman and CEO Barry Diller said the company will unveil a new local information service Dec. 4 that combines the functions of Ask.com, CitySearch, Evite, and Ticketmaster.
"We are coming out with AskCity, which is our local service," Diller told the Reuters Media Summit in New York. "It integrates maps, integrates events, integrates all of these different attributes that we have got in the best thing you will be able to use in a city to do things."
Ask.com is looking to stay several steps ahead of far larger search rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft by innovating faster and taking advantage of its stable of web and e-commerce sites, he said.
From my MediaPost Search Insider column, April 2005:
Almost all of IAC’s properties pivot around local angles, and those that don’t should either be retooled or dropped. Local-focused properties include: Citysearch, Entertainment Publications (which produces the coupon books), Expedia, Hotels.com, HSN, Match.com, RealEstate.com, and TicketMaster. ZeroDegrees, a struggling social networking site, could relaunch as a way to bring business professionals together. Gifts.com could tie in with the Evite social network to recommend popular gifts by people you’re connected to in your area. The word "local" isn’t in IAC’s mission statement, nor is any synonym, but given IAC’s expertise and its dreams for Ask Jeeves, that should change immediately. Barry, are you listening?
Jeeves, the beloved Ask.com butler, could become the face of local search if Diller invests in it with the same type of fervor in which he bid for Ask Jeeves in the first place. Some readers will be skeptical; this columnist is too. Yet Diller has two assets to exploit: vision and opportunity.
Barry, next time lunch is on you.
