So apparently Apple and Mr. Softie have been talking for a few weeks to make Bing the default search engine on iPhone.  I haven’t used Bing a whole lot and would simply switch back to Google.  Kind of sad to see Google and Apple parting ways as they are two creative and powerful companies that could do some pretty cool stuff together.  Partnering with Mr. Softie on any level kind of scares me.

Source = BusinessWeek for this particular rumor, IIRC.  They haven’t had the same kind of record as WSJ, Gruber’s sources, etc. 

I can see Apple looking at and talking to Google’s competition from time to time, sure.  But I don’t see Google being unseated as “preferred search partner” for MobileSafari just yet.  And Google Maps gets uprooted in iPhone 4.0?  Doubt it.

People still like/use/are just plain used to using Google far too much for Apple to just say “you know what, you want Google, go bookmark it or type it in.”  Worst case scenario, Apple adds Bing as an _option_ for that little integrated search field.  Heck, add in Yahoo! too.  From what I hear, it’s basically free money for Apple for having the search field space “leased out” to Google, it’d likely be the same for other companies.

Mav - 20 January 2010 05:15 PM

...Worst case scenario, Apple adds Bing as an _option_ for that little integrated search field.  Heck, add in Yahoo! too.  From what I hear, it’s basically free money for Apple for having the search field space “leased out” to Google, it’d likely be the same for other companies.

Yahoo! already is an option for the iPhone/iPod Touch at Settings>Safari>Search Engine.  Seems to me that is is very plausible to add Bing as an option.  Making it default seems like a bit of a stretch though.

I like BIng. 

And does anyone have satisfaction issues on search?  As in “oh, Google really screwed up THAT search..”  As far as I’m aware, search engines are rarely evaluated against another by consumers.  Too, Bing could be a placeholder while Apple launches its own search engine. 

My loyalties to Google are as thin as clicking on “Bing” instead of “Google”

Mercel - 20 January 2010 10:46 PM

I like BIng. 

And does anyone have satisfaction issues on search?  As in “oh, Google really screwed up THAT search..”  As far as I’m aware, search engines are rarely evaluated against another by consumers.  Too, Bing could be a placeholder while Apple launches its own search engine. 

My loyalties to Google are as thin as clicking on “Bing” instead of “Google”

Just my two cents:
personally, I have preferred Google as my preferred search engine, but I have used Bing and find that the results are accurate.

As far as what Bing means to the investor, I say that this is very good for AAPL. Look at it this way: years ago AAPL was reaching out to MSFT to bring Office to the Mac, and AAPL loyals at MacWorld were throwing their arms up in a frenzy, calling treason. Now, AAPL has the upper hand with their hardware, and MSFT may be knocking on their door wanting in.

What does this mean? I’d expect a very, very good price of admission to the iPhone/iTab OS. On the opposite side of the coin, I expect this to keep GOOG in check so that they stay in the iPhone game (which I expect they will unless AAPL is truly dissatisfied with them).

Isn’t Yahoo search already Bing? Or is iPhone Yahoo search legacy Yahoo search?

Having Google and Microsoft in competition can only increase the price per iPhone paid to Apple to hook up the search box.

Any way you look at it, Google is losing a little bit of ownership of the end user.

Where does it all end? Newspapers and magazines were already largely paid for by advertisers. But this platform controlled by Apple is immensely more powerful. In time, Apple may even be able to pay users to use iPhone! (but won’t, of course)

sleepygeek - 21 January 2010 02:02 AM

Having Google and Microsoft in competition can only increase the price per iPhone paid to Apple to hook up the search box.

Any way you look at it, Google is losing a little bit of ownership of the end user.

Google results and advertising produce revenue that help AAPL to improve their product and lower production costs (speculative, of course). Increased competition betw. search engines could mean bigger revenue opportunities.

I’m interested if you would provide more insight (with brevity, of course!) to your perspective; thx.

Or could it be that Apple wants to sell their iPhone in China…and that might be difficult if Google is on the phone.

In terms of advanced search syntax and possibly the engine itself, MS/Bing still can’t touch Google and that would be missed. However, Bing is doing some very interesting things with its mapping and traffic apps which, I believe, run off the same GIS data as Google.

This has some interesting implications. Bing maps are powered by Silverlight. Could we be seeing Silverlight coming to the iPhone before Flash? That could be a real big win for MS but would deepen the rift between Adobe and Apple. And that’s something I personally would not like to see.

Ric