Friday March 12, 2010
Motorola to bring Bing to Android phones
11 March 2010 – Motorola has struck a deal with Microsoft to use the software giant’s Bing search and mapping services on its Google-powered Android smartphones, reports Reuters. Motorola said the partnership means that a Bing bookmark and search widget will be loaded onto its smartphones. The agreement will come into force initially on Motorola’s phones in China, seemingly in response to Google's dispute with China over censorship, which has seen Google threaten to suspend use of its own search engine in the country. It is thought that Motorola needs alternatives to using Google in China, a key market for the US handset vendor. The move follows shortly after Motorola struck a similar deal to let consumers in China use Baidu, a local search engine, as another alternative.
"We believe that consumer choice is one of the most critical components to ensuring a rich and seamless client experience," said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services at Motorola Mobile Devices. In further evidence that it is looking to diversify away from Google, it was revealed last week that Motorola will use another Google search rival – Yahoo – as the default search provider on its Backflip Android phone in the US. Meanwhile, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said this week that he hopes to soon reach a conclusion to negotiations with the Chinese government regarding the fate of its China business. "We are in active negotiations with the Chinese government," Schmidt told reporters at a media summit in Abu Dhabi, reports Dow Jones Newswires. Separately, AP News reported today that South Korea's government has warned Google it will be penalised if its mobile games content isn't regulated. ♠ JC
Source: GSMA
