[sgk284]

Perhaps it's more telling that Bing thought they had one up on Google, only to find out that Google was already there.

[mrshoe]

That's an interesting way to spin it in Google's favor, but:

1) When MS signed a non-exclusive agreement with Twitter, they must have been 99% sure that Google would be in on the Twitter action as well (i.e. I doubt they ever thought they were one up on Google), and

2) The point is that Google is not already there. All they have to show for themselves is an agreement so far. (MS has http://www.bing.com/twitter up and running already.)

Being first to market isn't everything, but I still think this is a noteworthy exception to the norm of recent years.

[misuba]

Wow, everyone's signed non-exclusive agreements, no one's shipped anything stable... it's almost as if there's nothing to discuss.

[jacquesm]

Being first to market is fine if it works. If you actually search for anything at all you get an error page.