14 DAY TRIAL // When it first unveiled Bing, Microsoft brought to the table much more than a simple, but evolved search engine, it also introduced a new brand. Bing killed Live Search at the start of this year, and the general consensus is that Microsoft was right to switch off its former search engine and to distance itself from a brand that did nothing to help it grow in the race against Google. But branding and customer loyalty go further than the new search/decision engine, so far in fact that users can get Bing on their mobile phones in more ways than one.
Sure enough, there’s the mobile version of Bing, but how about the "sound of found?" Microsoft has made available for download a collection of Bing ringtones designed for Windows Mobile phones, but not only. Fact is that the Redmond-based company is offering a collection of Bing ringtones, essentially MP3 files, which can be set to play on any mobile phone with support for the file format. “Bing isn't just a search engine, it's a decision engine. Download these Bing-branded ringtones to your mobile device, then make www.bing.com your new default search engine today,” Microsoft revealed.
And precisely because Bing is more than a search engine, the software giant is offering end users the possibility to warm up to the brand via another very closely embraced product, Windows 7. The desktop of the latest iteration of the Windows client is not just for show, as the personalization capabilities are also brand advertising opportunities.
Microsoft released the Bing theme for Windows 7 a while back, but the imagery selected from the backgrounds that were featured on the search/decision engine’s home page are still up for grabs. The Bing theme is available exclusively for Windows 7. Users need to download the theme pack file and install it locally on their computers running Windows Vista’s successor.