Jim Lanzone recently appeared for an interview with Elinor Mills of CNET’s News.com. The journalist has published Ask.com's new CEO Jim Lanzone's interview. Lanzone is said to be the main person behind the transformation of Ask Jeeves into Ask.com. The new CEO took his charge after the departure of former Ask.com CEO Steve Berkovitz. Steve currently joined Microsoft's Online Buisness Group which acts as a support division that also includes MSN.com, MSN Adcenter, MSNTV and Windows Live.

Here’s a small clip of the interview:

How does Ask differentiate itself from the other search engines?

That’s one way (we differentiate), by focusing on where users need better products. The other way is through our differentiated tools. Searches are no longer just about getting you a relevant result. That was a novel concept in 2001 and 2002…Ask differentiates through a unique set of tools we’ve built, such as related search and binoculars and smart answers. When people are (aware) of these, we see our frequency and retention of usage grow significantly.

Read the whole interview, Asking more of Ask.com than of Jeeves, at News.com.