Nokia To Adopt Microsoft Bing, adCenter

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Being the default search engine on all Nokia phones doesn't necessarily hand Microsoft's Bing a golden ticket. But the partnership announced Friday that the phone maker will adopt the company's Windows Phone 7 technology as its primary operating system on its smartphones, providing a strategy to take market share. Phone owners would have an option to change search preferences. Many might wander back to Google.

The partnership means Bing will power Nokia's search services, giving customers access to Bing's next-generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services for Nokia.

Nokia Maps becomes a core part of Microsoft's mapping services. Maps will integrate with Microsoft's Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a local search and advertising option. The companies believe the collective leadership will build a global ecosystem and deliver "great mobile products" from hardware (Nokia) to software (Microsoft). "The game has changed from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems," said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop during a press conference in London.

Nokia will help drive Windows 7. The joint product road map will bring location-based services, search engine entertainment and social. For PCs, Bing took search market share in January 2011, according to comScore data. Explicit searches -- those done with user intent -- rose to 13.1%, compared with 12.0% sequentially. Yahoo's share rose slightly to 16.1% from 16% in the same time period.

Combined, Bing-powered searches -- which includes Yahoo search share -- reached 29.2% in January 2011, compared with 28.0% in December 2010, according to comScore. Google's search market share fell to 65.6% in January from 66.6% sequentially.

Through the partnership it also appears as if Microsoft will have a stronger alignment with mobile payments through the partnership with Nokia. In 2004, Sony, Philips spinoff NXP Semiconductors and Nokia created the NFC Forum, a consortium that works to define standards for the technology to ensure compatibility. The relationship will enable Microsoft to go head to head with Google, which announced last year that it would build in NFC capabilities into Android.

1 comment about "Nokia To Adopt Microsoft Bing, adCenter ".
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  1. Adam Hartung from spark partners, February 15, 2011 at 5:31 p.m.

    This is really a ridiculous decision by the Nokia CEO. His tenure at Microsoft has made him blind to the fact that Google's products - Android, search and adwords - are all superior to Microsoft's products. Further, how two locked-in cultures like Microsoft and Nokia will ever work together on product development is a mystery. Bad decision for Nokia, too bad for Google, but good for Apple according to Forbes.com http://bit.ly/hZOlt1

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