14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phone maker Motorola announced on Wednesday that it had partnered with the Redmond-based software giant Microsoft to include Bing services on a series of devices the company would launch on the market with Google's Android OS on board. According to the handset vendor, the new offering will become available in the first quarter of the year, and will deliver a choice to Android phone owners using search and map functions on their devices.
At the same time, the company also revealed that customers would benefit from a pre-loaded Bing bookmark for their browser, as well as a search widget with Bing integration. According to Motorola, the new agreement expands the capabilities of its Android-based devices, offering users the possibility to choose the search provider they like, and also enables enhanced personalization on the company's devices.
“We believe that consumer choice is one of the most critical components to ensuring a rich and seamless client experience,” said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services, Motorola Mobile Devices. “Motorola and Microsoft have enjoyed a longstanding collaboration and the addition of Bing services to our Android-based smartphones in China is another important step in empowering our end-users.”
In addition, Motorola and Microsoft announced that the Bing services, including search and maps navigation on mobile phones, would become available in China during the first quarter of the ongoing year. Motorola will either pre-load the services on handsets that are set to soon be launched on the market, or will offer them as an over-the-air update for the Android-based phones it already released in the country.
“Mobile devices continue to be a critical place for customers to access location-based services such as local search and mapping,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of the Online Services Division at Microsoft. “We are pleased to expand our long-standing relationship with Motorola to bring powerful Bing location-based services to Motorola’s innovative new mobile devices, providing consumers with more choice and flexibility in mobile search.”