Microsoft Corp’s Bing will be the default search engine and map application on Research In Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry smartphones, a boon for the software maker as it seeks expand in mobile devices and catch up with Google Inc.
Bing will be “deeply integrated” into the devices, creating “unique experiences for millions of BlackBerry customers,” Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said Monday in an unbilled appearance at the annual BlackBerry World trade show in Orlando, Florida. He said the partnership will be ready in time for the holiday shopping season later this year.
Microsoft is trying to challenge Google, whose share of the US search market is more than four times larger than that of Bing. The RIM partnership also advances Microsoft’s efforts to expand in mobile devices, a campaign that includes a pact with Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker by unit sales.
