The subway door opens and I step in the car with a swarm of other passengers. We all consciously and subconsciously adjust our body position to maximize our personal comfort as well as allow as much room as possible for other passengers. Like a can of sardines, the packed car rides to the next stop where some people get off, some people get on, and the process of reestablishment for personal space starts again.

This subway dance that I perform every morning (along with other NYers) reminds me of the current search market. We’re in between stops riding the packed train. We’ve got a huge fat man named Google who takes up most of the car, somewhat smaller men named Yahoo and Microsoft, and then a few skinny people on the side with the biggest being Ask.com.

We’re coming up to the next stop and something will change. Microsoft might still eat Yahoo (wait a couple months and they might rebid after the stock drops from shareholder lawsuits) and we’re all waiting for that new innovation in search. Whether Yahoo gets eaten, attaches itself to Google (they start dating and can stand closer to each other), or just withers away, there will some reorganization of space in this subway car in the near future. What we need is some new people to come in. We need innovation in this space. We need the next Google to compete with Google. I’m looking forward to the next stop.