Motorola Android Bing Mobile Phones To Debut

By: Bill Waters
03/14/2010 03:35 PM ET

Microsoft and Motorola have stuck a new deal to put Bing on its Android mobile phones. Bing will be the primary search tool which puts Google in an awkward position. It is the first deal by Microsoft to promote its search engine and map functions on Android mobile devices by Motorola.

“We believe that consumer choice is one of the most critical components to ensuring a rich and seamless client experience,” Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services at Motorola Mobile Devices, said in a statement.

Android is also using the Google search platform on other phones. The recent deal with Bing might even defuse Google’s censorship policy in China. Motorola hopes to build popularity of the Android platform to recapture lost cell phone market share.

However, consumers who prefer Google can still install it on their Motorola Android phones. The search and map services through Bing will start in the first quarter of this year. It will only be available in China.

Microsoft Search Engine

Bing is formerly Microsoft’s Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search. It is the current Internet search engine from Microsoft. The search engine was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 28, 2009 at the “All Things Digital” conference in San Diego. It went live on June 3, 2009.

Notable changes include the listing of search suggestions as queries are entered with related searches. These results are based on semantic technology from Powerset that the company purchased in 2008. As of January 2010, Bing is the third largest search engine on the Web by query volume.

Google China Censorship

Since announcing its intent to comply with Internet censorship laws in the People’s Republic of China, Google has been the focus of controversy over what critics view as capitulation to the “Golden Shield Project.” Google will display a statement with links laws, regulations and policies for prohibited Chinese keywords on a blocked list maintained by the PRC government. The search engine provider has also argued that it can play a role more useful to the cause of free speech by participating in China’s IT industry.

Some analysts have reported a clear difference between results returned for controversial keywords by the censored and uncensored search engines. Google has set up computer systems inside China that try to access Web sites outside the country. If a site is inaccessible then it is added to Google China’s blacklist.

In June 2006, Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, was quoted as saying virtually all of Google’s customers in China were using the non-censored version of their website. Critics in the United States claim that the search engine provider is a flagrant violation of Google’s own motto, “Don’t be evil.”