14 DAY TRIAL // With the advent of Safari 5, Apple has embraced Microsoft’s search/decision engine as one of the search options integrated in the browser. The Cupertino-based hardware company has long ignored all search-engine alternatives to Google and Yahoo, drastically restricting choice for Safari users. And fact is that, while it has added Bing to the list of search engines available through the browser’s Smart Search Field, Safari 5 continues to lag behind rivals when it comes down to the variety of search-engine options and customization flexibility offered to users. Still, Microsoft applauded Apple’s move, and the new search choice for Safari users.
“Apple today announced that Bing will be included as one of the search engine choices within Safari on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and within the Safari browser on the Mac and PC,” Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president, Online Audience Business Group, said. “Needless to say, we are excited that Bing will be included as an option in Safari because it will make it easier for you to search and get the benefits of Bing.”
Mehdi revealed that, despite the competition between the two companies, they had been collaborating on building a great Bing experience for Safari. “We’ve been working with Apple over the last couple of months to deliver a fantastic Bing offering for Safari, including some awesome HTML5 work for Safari on iPhone, and we hope you will be pleased with the results,” Mehdi noted.
Microsoft was already offering iPhone users the option of leveraging its decision engine through an application available for download free of charge via the App Store. The Redmond company indicated that it remained committed to the evolution of the Bing app for iPhone. “In addition, we are continuing to improve our existing Bing mobile application for iPhone which makes it easy to search, map, and find commerce and movie times. We will have a new release with even more great features very soon. For those of you that have not already tried it, you can find it in the App Store today,” Mehdi added.