Microsoft Bing’ing it’s Way Onto iPhone? Yahoo Enters 10-Year Search Deal
Yahoo! and Microsoft have just announced a 10-year search deal where Microsoft’s newly re-branded Bing service will take over web searches for the venerable Yahoo! For its part, Yahoo! will get 88% of ad-based search revenue for 5 years and the ability to sell ads to some Microsoft search sites as well and limited access to user data.
Um, okay. Is that a good deal? Even if it doesn’t face any regulatory or approval problems, the deal won’t close until next year and then will take up to a couple of years to get up and running.
So, impact on the iPhone and iPhone users in the short term is likely nothing. Although, like Jacob’s nemesis on Lost, it could mean Microsoft has finally found a loophole to get their Bing search service onto the iPhone…
Currently the iPhone offers too search options via Settings > Safari: Google and Yahoo. Will Apple be switching that to Google and Bing?
July 29th, 2009 at 9:40 am
You can get Bing on your iPhone right now. Microsoft didn’t waste any time making an iPhone formatted bing site. Even throwing in a custom icon if you add a link to your home page for it.
On a side note I wish Apple would let you add any search engine you wanted to Safari (mobile and desktop) like every other browser lets me do.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Naw they’ll probably reject it and then sooner or later remove Google as the default search engine as they begin rolling out their “Spotlight” search engine. Then they’ll probably want to reject every app in the store that isn’t a **** app.
Then the Iphone will blow up and create a singularity which will destroy our universe.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Microsoft: They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:36 am
No need to bash Microsoft, Bing is a solid decision engine and if it works on iPhone isn’t that worth celebrating?
July 29th, 2009 at 10:47 am
It should be a1by, but from what I hear Microsoft is evil or something bent on world domination.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Lighten up, folks. That was just a line from the scene in Lost spoofed above (except Jacob’s nemesis didn’t say “Microsoft” before those words).
July 29th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I think you meant “two” not “too” in the following sentence: “Currently the iPhone offers too search options via Settings > Safari: Google and Yahoo. Will Apple be switching that to Google and Bing?”
July 29th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Good grief, can’t you guys lighten up.. Microsoft is not perfect:- it’s also not evil either… For example, if they wanted to kill osx all they needed to do was to withhold office from that platform..
I love apple, and the iPhone – but hate to break it to you:- apple is not perfect either.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:17 am
@ Anagram4wander
True that! I constantly urge users to remind Apple how insane they have been acting.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Good places to start.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Apple sucks and apple fun boys are all ****
July 29th, 2009 at 11:34 am
One more search engine for iPhone Safari. I still prefer Google as my default search engine.
The iPhone Blogging
July 29th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
We don’t think Microsoft or any company are evil. We do think, and enjoy, that they all give us the chance to laugh from time to time. With them, at them, and in their general directions…
July 29th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Sorry don’t watch Lost, I’m a Jack Bauer guy. I mostly enjoy the pretty pictures on the bing site, plain white with some crazy fonts from time to time gets boring.
July 29th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
@Rene Ritchie
You missed a great opportunity yesterday to speak about the implications of Apple removing the Google Voice App from their store. It kind of makes you wonder what the app store and the iphone for that matter could have been had they not crippled it.
July 29th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Aside from the implications from this article, I just reall really appreciate the Lost shout-out. Haha
July 29th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
@ Truth:
Please let Apple (if you are a concerned customer, that is–I know I do) that they are being boneheads as well. (I submitted GV gripes at both feedback spots)
Rene is a blog guy, but his bone-headedness alone isn’t enough to change App and App Store policy. Seems a little kooky to just beat up Rene
July 29th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
By the way, those are the only feedback points I know of. If anybody else knows of another address it would be helpful.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Bing’s cool, but they still need to add more stuff, an example is it doesn’t correct your search yet, so if you type statoin it doesn’t suggest you search for station (which is the right word.
July 29th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
With you @idutch – it really needs that feature…
July 29th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Bing on iPhone doesn’t have location service like google… They are still my favorite
July 30th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I’ve been switching from google to bing on my desktop.. it just works so well with so many functional features. I recently installed the bing app on my girlfriend’s WM phone and let me say: it may not be as pretty as the google app on the iphone, but it’s 10 times better in terms of function. I really really really want a bing app for my iphone. M$ has a win on their hands with bing.