I don't see DDG taking Google's search crown. But it could happen the way Firefox opened the barn door - then other browsers came to take the crown (Chrome, for example).
[1] indicates DDG uses third-party APIs for deep web searches. To me that sounds like how Inktomi was a "search engine API" and neither Inktomi nor Yahoo saw Google coming [2].
Even if DDG doesn't succeed, Google is now at the top of the hill and therefore is _the_ target for all competitors.
Last time I tried both, I liked Blekko a lot more than DDG. So unless the "don't let ads track me" becomes a huge issue - like 100x bigger than it is now - I doubt people will be switching from Google to DDG.
I recently almost completely stopped using youtube. Then I downloaded adblock video plugin - was using firefox at that time.
Ads can be a major pain, and any business that requires them is probably going to fail, intolerance to ads is building up as ads are more and more agressive.
Switching to DDG because of ads wouldn't make much sense, they'll get their own ads when they have to pay for servers, too.
I don't think DDG needs to take anybody's crown to be successful. It provides a service to a few niches, mainly the tinfoil hat types and to people who mostly use Google as an intermediary to find wikipedia articles or posts on stack overflow and want a low-friction alternative. Or there's me: I mainly prefer the keyboard shortcuts.
Anyway, my point is that 1% of the search market is about half a billion dollars in revenue.
It'll be interesting to see if Gabriel keeps up with the affiliate model or moves toward an in-house ad solution.
No.. That's a common misconception. 1% of search market is not 1% of revenue because companies won't spend any time and investment in places with little traffic.
Bing is 20% of search market yet last I checked they are nowhere near that amount in revenue