It has been a very interesting past year or so in the Internet world and it is wonderful to see how the industry has really come alive. So much of it has been sparked since Google's IPO in August last year, and their seemingly daily mind blowing announcements that give new meaning to "rolling thunder? "Google maps the Earth, Google launches video, Google can search your computer, Google launches image ads, Google tests classifieds.? If I'm working for MSN or Yahoo! I would be begging for them to take a holiday. Instead, each of them is doing their best to match Google product for product. What is also impressive is how quickly each of them follows with a similar offering, you almost wonder if they aren't all colluding in some way. Bill Gates recently stated "We do not fear Google, but there is intense competition between us.? What an understatement.

On the periphery of this clash of the titans is eBay and Apple. eBay has scooped up Skype for a mere $4 billion, launched Kijiji, a new international classifieds site, and stepped up the international roll out of Paypal. Apple has been on a tear of late, the Mini, Podcasting, the Nano, and now that video iPod. I'm keen to see how these two companies will mix in with the 3 heavyweights in the coming 12 months.

China has also been where the titans have gone a few rounds in 2005. MSN finally launched China in May (after how many years?), Google poached a key China Microsoft employee, and now he's just sitting at home until the lawsuits are settled, and Yahoo! spent $1 billion for 40 percent of Alibaba, a huge eBay competitor in China. Then, just a few weeks ago, Google hired a President of Sales for Greater China (finally).

What does this all mean for advertisers? For the most part, it should be quite positive. MSN launched adCenter in September (first tested in Singapore and France), thus giving advertisers 3 different global paid search platforms to choose from. Additionally, MSN has advanced targeting and reporting features that I'm sure Google and Yahoo! search will soon offer their own version ?and vice versa.

Furthermore, because page views are increasing due to more users coming online, and more ad space opening up, relative costs are kept down even when paid search revenues are increasing by 35% a year. Simultaneously, many advertisers have either become much more aware of how to use search and content networks extremely effectively, especially in e-commerce (eBay is one of Google's largest customers), finance, travel, and IT, or have found agencies that can help take them to the next level.

In Asia, though, I still believe the best is yet to come. Only in Japan and Korea has paid search become close to a mainstream medium for advertisers. Elsewhere in Asia, it is clear that paid search is still woefully misunderstood and underutilized ?but it's only a matter of time before advertisers realize this and get up to speed on how to harness these tools.