[Update: 11:11AM PST] Apple’s iPhone is the most popular consumer smartphone on the market, while Google’s search engine is the leader in that space. They’re two great tastes that go great together, right? Wrong! Since Apple and Google are competing in more and more areas, the war between the two is getting ugly. The latest rumor is that Apple is in talks with Microsoft to use Bing as the default search engine on the iPhone. According to BusinessWeek:
Apple is in talks with Microsoft to replace Google as the default search engine on its iPhone, according to two people familiar with the matter. The talks have been under way for weeks, say the people, who asked not to be named because the details have not been made public.
You know things are getting nasty when Apple is enlisting the aid of Microsoft. *sigh* On a macro level, I wish Apple and Google would knock it off. I like several products from both companies; I don’t want to choose sides. On a micro level, I don’t care for Bing. A few of my friends swear by it, but I’ve been pretty unimpressed so far. Plus, I’m just used to Google’s search results.
What do you think of the news? Would you be irritated by Bing being the default search engine on your iPhone or iPod Touch?
Update: A reader just reminded me that Bing is the only search engine available on several Verizon phones. This might be a stretch, but perhaps iPhone 4.0 software has Bing as the default to make way for a future Verizon product?]
"Dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria!!!"
Apple has been playing nice with MS for a few years now. MS even invested a large chunk of dough in MS not that long ago.
Historically, it's MS that doesn't want to play nice with Apple. Apple may have started it way back when Billy was trying to push Windows to them and they opted to make their own OS instead, but MS has surely been the one persisting it. That's why there's no Zune software for Mac just to name one example.
@Ray – Ghostbusters, nice
Anyway I don't really care what the default browser is, it doesn't change the fact that you can change the browser in safari. I'd stick with google. I don't care for Bing, and I'm sick of MS throwing Bing in everyone's faces
Whatever. I'm still rocking 3.0 so I can tether.
Google search is good, but I still use yahoo often. A month or two ago I was trying to find a nude puc of Tila Tequila, google image search couldn't produce. Yahoo on the other hand was able to deliver.
@ Ray: You stole my quote. Touché, sir. (Could I remember any of the good ones from the Ghostbusters game, I'd follow up with one of those.)
@ N8R: I seem to remember that Microsoft invested $150 million that was locked in for three years only, back in 1997. Are you referring to that, or did they make another investment I don't know about?
@ lookatthisguy
No, that's it. I just thought it was more recent than that… I'm getting old.
https://rpad.tv/2010/01/20/happy-birthday-n8r/comm…
…see.
@ N8R well happy birthday then. I know how you feel–mine is coming up next week, and working at a high school, I only feel older, and older, and older…
@ lookatthisguy
I recently joined a Facebook group called "When I was your age, we had to blow in our videogames to make them work".
I'm so old, I NEVER would have had teacher in any grade that was down with videogames.
@ N8R Don't feel so bad. I qualify for that group as well. Probably the both of them(?)
Though I remember sometimes jiggling the cartridge in the console trying to make it work as well.
Apple using Microsoft stuff? lol What has the world come to….
This is very unexpected to me. What will happen next? AT&T becoming a reliable service? Halo 3 on the Playstation 3??