RIM to make Bing the default for search and maps; will integrate Bing on the OS level

Tue, May 3, 2011

News

By Sarah Petit:

Score one for Bing! By all accounts, Google completely dominates search. Hell, Google is largely synonymous with search. Google this, Google that.

But Google does have some competition in the form of Microsoft’s Bing, which has seen incremental growth over the past few years.

And now comes word via Steve Ballmer at BlackBerry World 2011 that the new default maps and search engine on all future BlackBerry devices will be Bing. Of course, users will have the option to revert back to Google if that’s what they’re most comfortable with but scoring default search engine status on a platform as prevalent as BlackBerry is no small thing.

But let’s be clear – Bing on RIM devices will be much more than an option. Indeed, the service will reportedly be integrated into the OS itself and will begin appearing on BlackBerry devices this holiday season. What this means is built-in voice activated and location-aware search functionality. Moreover, Ballmer explained that Microsoft will “invest uniquely in the BlackBerry platform.”

Wow, everyone sure is gunning for Google these days. In a twisted or perhaps odd way, it’s weird to see Microsoft fighting an uphill battle when we grew accustomed to the folks at Redmond wielding endless power over the competition. Now, Google is the new Microsoft, fighting battles on all fronts.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right folks?

Indeed, for a while there were rumors, later debunked, that Apple was contemplating making Bing the default search engine in iOS.

via CNET

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2 Comments For This Post

  1. Bill R Says:

    This pretty much guarantees I wont be getting a playbook or OS7 phone. In contrast to googles unobtrusive ads and contextual search, Bing is littered with giant banner adds and confusing search results that are intermingled with even more ads!!!

    thanks for making Android a no brainier choice RIM.

  2. jim Says:

    Bing is like everything else Mr. Puttin’ on the Ritz does. Not so good, clumsy and a poor copy of the original.

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