ITA Software is a leading provider of flight information such as schedules, fares and availability that is used by most of the key online travel sites and search engines as well as all the major airlines. This is a new direction for Google as it tries to offer a more complete search experience.
In the past, Google’s goal was limited to displaying the sharpest search results in an attempt to get you off their page and on to the content you want as soon as possible. However, Google has been inching forward by offering more and more search query customizations. recently made more accessible when Google undertook a results page interface revamp.
Bing, the search engine from Microsoft, has been making public search functionality that lets users drill down into more details before they move onto the final website. The deeper search experience from Bing extends into travel, but also on to health, shopping and entertainment.
As this latest acquisition illustrates, Google is realizing that for some topics, the Internet’s most popular search engine can do far more than just filter and organize result,s and that doing so can deliver more profitable advertising revenue. This comes as Google is reporting a growth in demand while its classic search functionality is maturing.
Google says that it has no intention of withdrawing ITA Software’s services from its competitors and neither does it seem as if Google has made the acquisition to withhold crucial flights information from anyone. That said regardless of Google’s intents any attempt to shut down ITA Software is likely to be met with anti-competitive charges.
