Microsoft hurt by poor Live branding

Bad branding of the new Windows Live Internet services has hurt Microsoft and could affect its chance to gain market share from its competitors.

Microsoft lowered its sales forecast and has acknowledged that its search market share has dropped while Google share rose considerably.

While it's too early to call Windows Live a failure, things aren't looking good in its first year, analysts said.

David Smith, an analyst at Gartner claims that "Microsoft's Live branding has been tremendously confusing and has hurt the company, and it is very likely contributing to the situation they are in right now. They've created another brand and have not differentiated it."