Google Calendar Up Threefold Since June
As you resolve to get your schedule more organized in the new year, do what more and more people are doing - use Google Calendar. A few weeks ago, Google Calendar overtook MSN Calendar in market share of US visits, and is quickly approaching Yahoo! Calendar.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google moved from a conspicuous gap in its consumer web lineup to a web-based calendar launch in April 2006. By January 2007, Hitwise data shows the service has tripled its US visit share since June and passed MSN Calendar, putting Yahoo's calendar offering within reach.
The pickup by TechCrunch framed the result as an online-calendar contest, underscoring that usage share—not merely product availability—had become the competitive measure.
First-order effects
- Google Calendar's growth gives Google a stronger position against MSN Calendar and narrows the visit-share gap with Yahoo.
- MSN Calendar loses its lead over Google in US visit share, while Yahoo faces a fast-growing challenger.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo and MSN face greater pressure to retain calendar users as Google turns its 2006 launch into measurable audience momentum.
- Calendar services become a more visible front in the competition for recurring consumer web use, rather than a peripheral utility category.
Third-order effects
- If visit-share gains persist, online calendars may reward providers that can make scheduling a habitual destination, concentrating attention among the largest web platforms.
The trend: Consumer web platforms are competing to turn basic personal-organization tools into high-frequency services that deepen user engagement.