Microsoft heavily promotes Bing search through iPhone apps

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Using free sponsored apps, Microsoft has been aggressively promoting Bing search through Apple's App Store.



Microsoft is working with outside developers to raise awareness of its Bing app, according to Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal. In recent weeks, the Redmond, Wash.-based company says, as many as seven apps at once, each with Bing in their names, have held top positions on the iPhone App Store's most downloaded free app lists.



Most of the third-party apps, which are sponsored by Microsoft, allow users to listen to popular music for free, provided they download the Bing app first. The apps have names like "Ryan Seacrest's MixTapes by Bing" and "Bing Hip Hop 100."



According to a person familiar with Microsoft's strategy, the push is meant to "crack the code" of the App Store. Many of the third-party apps are being advertised on mobile advertising networks.



A spokesman for Microsoft acknowledged the campaign and its effectiveness. ?It turns out if you have more than one of these apps at the upper-end of the store, you see decent lift across all of them,? Adam Sohn said.



Although Microsoft is currently reworking its mobile phone OS, with Windows Phone 7 due out "before the holidays," the company is still committed to marketing its search product on competing mobile platforms. In addition to courting iPhone users, Microsoft is looking to capture some of the Android search market. An official Bing app for Android is nearing completion.



?It?s all about building a great service and making it as broadly available as possible,? said Sohn.



Earlier this year, rumors arose, but were later retracted, that Apple was in talks with Microsoft to make Bing its default iPhone search service. In June, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that iOS 4 was adding support for Bing search, although Google remained the default option.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    mystigomystigo Posts: 183member
    Since Google and Verizon started divvying the internet up amongst themselves I have seriously considered switching to Bing. Maybe it's time to bury the hatchet with beleaguered Microsoft and give them a chance.
  • Reply 2 of 29
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    Good for MS. Bing is a good search engine, but it's no google. MS has been pushing hard with their online version of office, redesign of hotmail, etc For me though google is still better both in search and in other functions like mail, docs, calendars, maps.



    I believe Bing is now Yahoo's search engine, which is interesting because Google used to be their search engine before they split off and got big I believe. We'll see if Yahoo's mail and news properties will propel Bing's market share.
  • Reply 3 of 29
    guch20guch20 Posts: 173member
    Ever since Google attempted to screw over the entire internet with regard to Net Neutrality, I've been using Bing exclusively as my search provider and Yahoo as my email service. I'd been contemplating a switch anyway, since it's just not wise to give one company access to too much of your information.



    Bing works great, and the switch has been totally painless. Maybe it's time Microsoft did more than advertise and started using some shady dealings like they did back in the monopoly days to get their product pushed in front of more people. The more we can shrink Google, the better the competition between the companies will be, which is all the better for us.
  • Reply 4 of 29
    bullheadbullhead Posts: 493member
    Bing is terrible. I tried a couple searches on Java and Linux and got back terrible non-relevant results. So back to Google which gives me good results almost every time. Plus, Google is not a convicted Monopolist (like Microsoft) who thwarts interoperability at every step of the way via their proprietary, patent encumbered file formats and protocols. Nor does Google copy everything Apple does. No thanks Microsoft.
  • Reply 5 of 29
    2 cents2 cents Posts: 307member
    Google has been up to a lot of nastiness lately. Using Bing now and I seriously want to see more competition in search. Would be nice to have 10 choices in Safari for default search in the future. My gmail has been relegated to junk status and I dropped google cals and am now using MobileMe (which I like better). Dropping out of a whole a bunch of other google apps as well. Meh! Their beta apps are overrated anyway so it's no hardship. YouTube is still getting a lot of use and I gave my google voice number out to a bunch of people so I'll keep that going for now but I look forward to a "google lite" future.
  • Reply 6 of 29
    i went back to using Yahoo after the whole Buzz debacle, was glad to see that I can finally enable it in Safari as a default. Google does a great job at search--second to none--but I do not trust them, far less than I do Micro$oft, Yahoo, or anything else. Bing is nice, too.



    Frankly, I feel safer with Ballmer sweating all over my data than Schmidt wiping his backside with it.
  • Reply 7 of 29
    I still mainly use Dogpile, which searches all the engines.
  • Reply 8 of 29
    2 cents2 cents Posts: 307member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OldMacGuy View Post


    I still mainly use Dogpile, which searches all the engines.



    Dogpile is definitely a good one. The main thing is, my thinking has changed to where search no longer means google. I am trying different engines and keen to try others. It bothers me now when people say "google it." No, I am going to search the interwebs as I see fit, thank you.
  • Reply 9 of 29
    Ya know...



    I don't enjoy being fucked over by anyone...



    Given the choice, though, I'd rather be fucked over by Microsoft than Google...



    ... at least I get a kiss for my efforts (instead if a sermon)!



    .
  • Reply 10 of 29
    That's Microsoft riding Apple's success again. Stay tuned, coming up soon The Microsoft Royal Shaft...
  • Reply 11 of 29
    r00fusr00fus Posts: 245member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 2 cents View Post


    Google has been up to a lot of nastiness lately. Using Bing now and I seriously want to see more competition in search. Would be nice to have 10 choices in Safari for default search in the future. My gmail has been relegated to junk status and I dropped google cals and am now using MobileMe (which I like better). Dropping out of a whole a bunch of other google apps as well. Meh! Their beta apps are overrated anyway so it's no hardship. YouTube is still getting a lot of use and I gave my google voice number out to a bunch of people so I'll keep that going for now but I look forward to a "google lite" future.



    You think Google's evil is even in the same league as Microsoft? (which, as an organization is really tame compared to the likes of Halliburton or Monsanto).



    I think Google has irreparably harmed their image with the whole Verizon "carve up the mobile internets" plan, but they're still nowhere near as evil as "lets stuff the standards organization ballot box" or "Windows isn't done until Lotus doesn't run" Microsoft.



    Glad to hear MobileMe is working well for you, but $69/yr is still too expensive compared to free, and we have all OSX and iOS in the house.
  • Reply 12 of 29
    Count the number of times Bing appears in this story. Reminds me of the time Stephen Colbert was paid by Microsoft everytime he would say "Bing" on the air.
  • Reply 13 of 29
    oc4theooc4theo Posts: 294member
    Microsoft piggybacking on Apple products to get its feet wet. That's unbelievable to say the least.



    Well, it pays to not burn bridges because one never know the future. As it is looking, Apple is the future.
  • Reply 14 of 29
  • Reply 15 of 29
    Just another 80% to go:



    Search Engine Market Share

    Google: 84.97%

    Yahoo: 5.99%

    Bing: 3.34%

    http://marketshare.hitslink.com/sear...e.aspx?qprid=4
  • Reply 16 of 29
    emulatoremulator Posts: 251member
    Bring back bing cashback and people will be using Bing again.
  • Reply 17 of 29
    I'm calling it



    Bing on the iPhone 5/iPad 2 by default with Bing Maps.
  • Reply 18 of 29
    2 cents2 cents Posts: 307member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by r00fus View Post


    You think Google's evil is even in the same league as Microsoft? (which, as an organization is really tame compared to the likes of Halliburton or Monsanto).



    I think Google has irreparably harmed their image with the whole Verizon "carve up the mobile internets" plan, but they're still nowhere near as evil as "lets stuff the standards organization ballot box" or "Windows isn't done until Lotus doesn't run" Microsoft.



    Glad to hear MobileMe is working well for you, but $69/yr is still too expensive compared to free, and we have all OSX and iOS in the house.



    I think you underestimate greatly google's potential to do evil should they continue to dominate the search/cloudinfo marketplace. In any case, it's not either or, google or MS. I don't want one search co dominating the information highway. I am not touting Bing as much as I am touting competition—which is very scant at this point.



    As for MobileMe, I am as cheap as they come but suddenly, google has made me painfully aware of the price of free. $70/year (family pack, amazon price) looks like a screaming great deal to me now.



    Edit: google in fact reminds me of MS circa 1990s. No thanks.
  • Reply 19 of 29
    tawilsontawilson Posts: 484member
    It's a good job Microsoft call bing a decision engine. Cos it certainly isn't a very good search engine.



    The results I get, even when searching for something that should me on MSDN is abysmal when compared to what Google throws back (mainly because the Google results are relevant and bing's are just plain useless or MS marketing info).
  • Reply 20 of 29
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JuanGuapo View Post




    Frankly, I feel safer with Ballmer sweating all over my data than Schmidt wiping his backside with it.





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