Microsoft cleverly slips in Bing search on Android phones
Even though Microsoft is a leader in the desktop OS market (thanks to Windows 10), it has a long way to go in other consumer-focused categories such as Search. Now, to make that happen, the Redmond giant appears to be taking a sneaky move and slipping in its Bing search product onto Android phones. Here's more about it.
Bing search option appearing on phones
A few hours ago, a number of Android users reported seeing a 'Bing search' option in the contextual menu that appears upon selecting words. The button appeared across all applications on the mobile operating system and searched for the selected text on Bing upon being clicked. The entire operation was performed in a browser window opening within the Outlook app.
Evidently, this raised many questions
While the option was benign and did nothing more than searching a selected phrase on Bing, many were baffled by its uninvited appearance. "Long press on text in Android now also includes a 'Bing Search' option," one affected user said. "I don't have the Bing app installed. Only Microsoft app I have on my phone is Outlook. [Does] anyone know what is going on?"
Soon, it was revealed Outlook was to be blamed
As the number of complaints surged, it became evident that Microsoft is promoting Bing through Outlook. Specifically, the company is displaying the Bing button using the contextual text selection feature Google offers on Android to let developers add their own options to the menu that pops up when words are selected. The feature has been integrated with Outlook to quietly enable Bing searches.
Removing Outlook will solve the issue
The button does not appear for everyone, but in case it shows up for you and affects your experience, try removing and re-installing the Outlook app. Some affected users reported that the option was gone after they re-installed the app. They all criticized Microsoft for using the shady trick of including a search product with something completely unrelated.
No word from Microsoft on the matter
Microsoft has not commented on the matter yet, but it is not hard to explain why the company took the weird move. At present, out of all web searches, less than 3% happen through Bing, while 91.75% take place on Google, which leads the search category. As such, Microsoft is trying to get more people to use Bing to try closing this ginormous gap.
