Bing to Replace Google on iPhone? Would You Switch?

I’m pretty much entrenched in the world of Google. Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs, etc, you name it, Google dominates the best of us. BusinessWeek has launched a story that states Apple is in talks with Microsoft to replace Google as the default search engine within Safari with Bing.

We know that currently users have the option to choose from Yahoo! or Google as the default search engine. Could the Apple vs Google rivalry (think iPhone vs Android) actually set Bing to the default search engine? It looks like a friendly relationship at first has now turned into an all out brawl.

If you’ve actually tried Bing, it’s actually a pretty decent search engine. However, using Google is convenient for me and many others as there are quick links to Gmail, Google Reader, and other Google services. Using Bing would result in an extra step to quickly access my Google needs. On top of that, after years of suffering and tormenting a la Windows has left me with a sour taste in my mouth–I’d rather stay away from Microsoft products.

That being said, if Apple does indeed make the switch to Bing, it will be a good thing. Why? Well, it offers iPhone users more choice (think about why we choose to jailbreak our iPhones). The unfortunate thing is how Google has been denied the chance for a native Gmail and Latitude app on the iPhone. It looks like this rivalry is just beginning.

Would you switch from Google to Bing? Even if your life depended on it? I won’t be making the switch. To compromise though, I have started following Bill Gates on twitter! Does that count?

**Edit** CNBC’s Jim Goldman has started adding some fuel to this fire:

This information comes from “a knowledgeable source very familiar with search dynamics involving Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo”

● Microsoft’s Bing app for iPhone provides more queries than any other mobile source including the entire Verizon Wireless network.

● This source says “Jobs hates Eric.”

● Apple gets paid for each Google search from the iPhone that leads to an ad click. Microsoft is willing to pay more to gain much needed market share.

● Discussions between Microsoft and Apple have been ongoing since the October/November time frame.

● Jobs may not like Microsoft products, but that doesn’t mean he’s “anti-Microsoft.” Recall that Microsoft bailed out Apple in the past, develops Microsoft Office for the Mac, and created the original browser for the iMac in Internet Explorer. “Steve understands that Bing will give him a Search API where he can integrate search results deeper and deeper in the product without having to see the Bing web page and user-interface,” says this source.

● Jobs “cannot and will not build a search engine” of his own. The amount of expertise you need to build relevance is simply not what Apple wants to do, he argues. Apple, he says, wants to inject its own ads into Maps, Weather, Stocks and Search results, so, getting a Search API from Microsoft is really what Apple wants.

[BusinessWeek]

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