Microsoft In Mobile Search Deal With Verizon
An anonymous reader writes "Verizon Wireless will forge a deal with Microsoft to include the software giant's Live Search on its mobile phones, giving Microsoft a victory over rival Google and ending a months-long dance toward the partnership. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will announce the deal in his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas." InfoWorld notes that Microsoft is rumored to be changing the name of its Live Search service to Kumo, which is Japanese for "cloud."
They should name it "bukakke" because the search results would just keep pourin' in!
And also because using MS is humiliating.
Last month, I had a broken Verizon phone and a year left on my contract. I really wanted an Android-based phone as a replacement, but I figured that would happen later rather than sooner with Verizon given how they like to take their time qualifying new phones (i.e. removing features), so I paid the early termination fee to jump-ship to T-Mobile. With this agreement, it seems even less likely we'll see an Android phone on their network. Even if we did, it'd be amusing to see how they'd try to make MS Live Search the default search engine for it.
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."