Apple and Microsoft are currently holding talks on the possibility of making Bing the default search provider for the iPhone in a move that underscores the growing rift between Apple and Google.
Bing, the popular search engine from Microsoft has 11% of the mobile search market. Google controls some 86%, much of that coming from the iPhone. Turn iPhones into Bing devices, and all of a sudden Microsoft is the market leader in mobile search.
All in one fell swoop against the search leader Google.
Of course, Apple and Google have been having more and more difficulties surrounding their partnership for iPhone software. Google, while pressing its Android strategy, has had more than one run-in with Apple over mobile apps in the past. It seems that Apple is determined to take a swipe back at Google.
This move, if it happens, will surely involve a large cash transaction, but will overnight change the mobile search market. Bing would become the number one leader, with Google in second place, one step above a bit player. The iPhone is the grandaddy of internet usage in the mobile sphere. It’s the market leader for technology, and much of the mobile search market comes from it.
Change what people use on their iPhones, and change the market.
Of course, Apple and Microsoft are hardly friends, but they do seem to be able to work together when they are not competing. This move would push Bing and Microsoft into the real search war, something that Apple has no hand in. Just don’t go looking for Internet Explorer on the iPhone, not that anyone would use it.
What do you think, will you Bing from your iPhone?
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