When Apple released the iPhone 4, Microsoft tried to use the popularity of the brand to leverage itself, prompting iPhone users to make Bing their default search engine. Now, Microsoft is appealing to the loyal cohort of Apple users once again with the recent launch of Bing features for Safari.
Bing Highlights is designed to deliver users contextually-sensitive information that supplements the pages they are reading. By highlighting text on a web page, online readers can receive “smart information” retrieved from other web pages.
Dennis Cheung, Bing’s senior program manager, explains that the feature was created with maps to destinations or text-to-speech options in mind. However, it also offers users search results (powered by Bing, of course) for similar articles. This could mean marketers who advertise on Bing will have more opportunities to get their ads viewed by users.
The company explains that Bing Highlights works for PC users as well as Mac users, but it is clear officials are sticking close to Apple’s brand – “We are excited to continue working closely with Apple in bringing visually-compelling Bing experiences,” Cheung writes.
Bing is not alone in wanting to capitalize on the popularity of Apple to market its services. Mobile marketers are quickly adopting the iAd platform to engage Apple brand enthusiasts – even though the iPhone has less penetration in the market than other smartphones.
John Shelton, CEO of the systems provider Strata, speculated to Media Post that most advertisers were simply “interested in being associated with the iPhone.” The strategy is paying off as advertisements on Apple’s mobile ad network are demonstrating impressive ROI.
It remains to be seen whether association with Apple will help Bing gain a competitive edge, but further growth may help Microsoft take a generous share of the search market. Currently, Bing is predicted to account for 30 percent of searches once the Yahoo-Bing alliance takes effect.
