Microsoft’s Bing for iPhone takes a friendly jab at Apple’s Siri: Report

While Google has been busy tweaking its algorithms to understands search queries  better, Microsoft has been working hard to better its Bing search offering for Apple users and now we have an all-new app to play with. Microsoft’s new Bing for iPhone is a complete revamp of the old app that focussed just on search, similar to what Google does with its app on the iPhone. But the software giant’s new app takes things to another level; so much so, that it appears to compete with something more personal to Apple users (even in India), Siri. Apple recently pumped up its Spotlight Search and Siri on iOS 9 to deliver more comprehensive search results that are more aware thanks to deep integration with an iPhone. But strangely, Microsoft is able to takes things a bit further. Microsoft’s revamped Bing for iPhone re-thinks the search is conducted on a mobile device. According to the experts at Microsoft, mobile users want instant answers and want to take an action after finding results, but are unfortunately left stranded at the end with nowhere to go. The new app will not only provide users with more meaningful results, but also guide users as to which installed third-party apps they can use to reach the objective of the search query. For example, search for a movie will show your listings on IMDb and also show you options in other apps to watch or buy the movie on your iPhone. You can book an Uber before leaving for a searched restaurant because Bing will can even request to open your query on to the third-party app! This is all possible thanks to Microsoft’s Knowledge and Action Graph, a deep understanding of people, places, and things, together with the actions and apps that are deep linked with them. Indeed, you would compare this to Google’s recently launched Google Now On Tap, which is out with the recent Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. But that currently works natively on Android smartphones – for now. Microsoft indeed seems to have pulled off something commendable. But sadly, iPhone owners in India do not have access to the revamped app just yet.