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Bill at WebmasterWorld found a new MSN Japan search engine named Zenbu Kensaku at http://zenbu.jp.msn.com/.
I don't read or understand Japanese, so let me quote you his comments:
This new search engine beta actually will work with a lot of English keyword searches in addition to the Japanese. Enter a keyword and give it a try.The tabs at the top offer a number of ways to break down the SERPs. The default is to show all of the different categories together on one page "zenbu". Then we have web, Q&A, images, movies, news, maps, shopping, and sponsors.
I've run through several searches, and it looks like a useful way to break down the SERPs. Could this be part of the MS Kumo beta?
Common to Asian based search engines, the interface is very graphical. I decided to try searching for the word privacy in Japanese and I took a screen capture of the very interesting search results layout. You can see a screen capture of it at my Flickr account.
This is clearly powered by Live Search, but the big question is, might this be a preview of Kumo in Japan? I doubt it is what we would see in the US when Kumo launches.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Comments:
Loren Baker
03/18/2009 03:02 pm
FYI, Kumo is Japanese for Spider (or Cloud)
Bill
03/19/2009 06:55 am
Zenbu Kensaku (ぜんぶ検索) means: Zenbu = All/Everything Kensaku = Look up/Retrieval/Search
Maurice Winn
03/26/2009 06:28 am
Zenbu [not Microsoft's] has been in operation in New Zealand for 3 years and comprises a directory, search and mapping business and a Wi-Fi service provider business. It's interesting that Microsoft has chosen to use the same name in Japan which will make it difficult for Zenbu to operate in Japan. The designers of Zenbu New Zealand are fluent in Japanese having lived there and also worked there [for Livedoor]. See http://www.Zenbu.net.nz [Wi-Fi] and http://www.Zenbu.co.nz [search]