Apple ditches Google; partners with Bing for Siri search

Microsoft’s pet search engine Bing has replaced Google Search as the brain behind Siri in iOS 7. Besides a brand new look, sound and capabilities, Siri is getting a brand new search engine too.

This change of heart by Apple was announced at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference as well as by Microsoft on a Bing blog. When iOS 7 starts to roll out this fall, Siri will pull up data from Bing for your questions instead of Google Search, the source it had relied on for data since its birth.

Now Bing powered

“Bing was designed from the outset to be a great place for web search helping customers quickly find what they are looking for and get more out of search,” wrote the Corporate Vice President for Bing, Derrick Connell in a blog post. “We are thrilled that all the great results people have come to know and love on Bing.com will now be available to Siri users on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.”

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For those who have been tracing Apple’s slow but sure divorce from Google, this move will not come as a big surprise. The Cupertino-based company has been trying to stand on its own, independent of Google since a long time now.

Having Siri rely on Bing seems like a safer deal for Apple than the Maps fiasco. Back when iOS6 was launched in June last year, Apple announced the launch of its home-grown map service, Apple Maps. The service turned out to be a bit prematurely launched as it showed high levels of inaccuracies. Tim Cook was forced to apologise for the application and suggested users stick to alternate services.

With Siri, Apple has only gone on to show that it is determined in its motive of not just standing on its own feet, but steering clear of all things Google.