Softpedia
 

NEWS CATEGORIES:



NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
MEET THE EDITORS >>
Home > News > Telecoms

July 22nd, 2010, 09:28 GMT · By

Windows Phone 7 Only with Bing as Default Search

SHARE:

Adjust text size:


Windows Phone 7
Enlarge picture
Microsoft's upcoming mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 is expected to have as default search engine only one solution, namely the company's Bing service. For what it's worth, the move might not come as a surprise to many, especially since Bing is another Microsoft product, though it is quite interesting to learn that the company removed other search engines as default options for the new mobile platform.

“The search engine has been heavily integrated into the OS, so it would be hard to offer an alternative,” Greg Sullivan, senior product manager for Microsoft, confirmed, according to a recent article on Pocket-lint. This doesn't meant that other companies won't have the possibility to come up with their own application or even with a hub, but it does mean that no other search engine would be made default on the upcoming platform.

According to the news site, Microsoft decided to make the move due to the “Tell me” integration, through which users can push a button and give voice commands their mobile phone to search for various items on the handset and on the web. In other words, the solution would be similar with the voice recognition search feature Google packed on the Nexus One, or with Apple's Voice Control.

It seems that the feature already works pretty nice, and that it should offer an enhanced experience to users. Greg Sullivan demonstrated the solution on his Windows Phone 7 developer preview device, as he asked for details on a flight to the US and performed a search for a calendar entry.

It should be noted that other companies have actually expanded the number of search engine options available for their mobile phones users. However, Microsoft's Bing solution enjoys only a small share of the search market, and the company's move to make it the only default search engine on Windows Phone 7 might have been driven by an attempt to increase that share.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

1,704 hits · 1 comment · Link to this article · Print article · Send to friend · Subscribe to news

MUST-READ RELATED ARTICLES:


Windows Phone Live Syncing, Business App Development

Microsoft KIN Officially Confirmed Dead

MySquare, a Foursquare Client for Windows Phone

Verizon Stops All KIN Sales

Windows Phone 7 Devices Unboxed on Video

READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: Marketing Web on 28 Jul 2010, 12:59 UTC reply to this comment

This is an interesting move in light of the European court decision a year or so ago regarding the fact that IE could not be the only browser in Windows. Using their market power in one area to push another area was basically what they were in trouble for and looking to do again here.

Of course that was Europe AND a different product, plus i'm sure Google does something similar on Android phones, but it's still an interesting point considering they have been in trouble for this type of thing before.

Matt

Copyright © 2001-2012 Softpedia. Contact/Tip us at

WindowsGamesDriversMacLinuxScriptsMobileHandheldNews

SUBMIT PROGRAM   |   ADVERTISE   |   GET HELP   |   SEND US FEEDBACK   |   RSS FEEDS   |   UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE   |   ROMANIAN FORUM