14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced plans to rebrand its Bing suite of apps for Windows Phone, and ultimately, to bring them to other mobile platforms like Android and iOS as well.
According to the Redmond-based company, not all Bing apps will be renamed to MSN, only content-based apps such as News, Health, Sports, while Bing Search apps will not change names.
Aside from the confirmed rebranding, Microsoft plans to make it easier for users to personalize what they see regardless of what device they are using.
This means that once you choose your favorites on a smartphone, tablet or PC, your preferences will be connected across multiple services such as MSN, Cortana, Bing and other Microsoft experiences.
Launching the new MSN suite of apps on Windows Phone, as well as Android and iOS, does seem to be just another step towards convergence and a single ecosystem for all devices powered by Microsoft’s operating systems (Windows, Windows Phone).
“Whether it is your watchlist of stocks in MSN Money, your favorite sports teams in MSN Sports, or your recipe collections in MSN Food & Drink, those things will always be with you at your PC at work, on your iPad in the living room, or on your Android phone when you are on the go,” said Brian MacDonald, CVP at Microsoft, in a blog post.
MSN apps will be improved with new features
We also expect Microsoft to make some visual improvements to the upcoming MSN apps for Windows Phone as well, to come in line with those available on Windows.
New features that will make searching a much smoother experience will also be included in the new MSN suite of apps, so Windows Phone users should continue to be excited by what’s to come from Microsoft.
Microsoft has already confirmed it has signed partnerships with some of the best news delivery websites, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN and AOL, to bring Windows Phone users the best news when they access the MSN application for this particular section.
To make it even easier to get only the news they are interested in, users can choose which topics they like in the MSN News, so they can track every piece of information on a certain subject.
Other tweaks and major improvements to the MSN Food & Drinks apps will be added as well, such as the option to turn a list of ingredients from a recipe into a shopping list.
These are only a few of the improvements that will be available to MSN apps users on Windows Phone, as well as other operating systems, very soon.