Reports are surfacing that Microsoft will be rebranding its search engine one more time. The first rebranding was that of MSN to Live, and now Microsoft is expected to rebrand Live into Kumo. Microsoft has already registered the domain Kumo.com but there is no estimate on when, if assumptions are correct, Microsoft Kumo will be launched.
Kumo is a Japanese word meaning "Cloud" or "Spider". The transition from Live to Kumo may signify Microsoft"s further attempt at establishing true cloud computing and perhaps even mitigating the growth of its competitor, Google.
Microsoft"s current plans for Live, as evident from home.live.com, seem to be a social networking aggregation of contact information, email, calendar and photos. Perhaps we"ll even see the addition of a streamlined interface between Facebook and Live.
A major criticism of the Live brand is that once it was launched it deteriorated in public recognition as a search engine brand due to the emergence of software that carried the Live title (i.e. Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Photo Gallery). Perhaps, with yet another change in branding, Microsoft will finally be able to put their search engine in the position they desire it to be.