Microsoft Bing and BlackBerry in joint marketing strategy

The days of Microsoft considering mobile devices to be in competition with them seem to be over, with the announcement that BlackBerry is to partner with Bing as its default search engine and navigation app.

The marketing strategy, “making better decisions with Bing on BlackBerry”, was announced at the BlackBerry World conference – the annual event for professional users of the device and BlackBerry partners – by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. With the alliance, which is set to be rolled out beyond the US, it’s time for companies in the UK to take notice too.

Matt Dahlin, Director of Bing, wrote the following on the official Bing blog: “These new experiences highlight how the mobile landscape is changing. Devices are becoming sensors that can provide real-time access to information to help people quickly complete tasks on the go. We’re going to see a convergence of search, commerce, social and location-centric services where Bing will provide the intelligence and the organizing layer in the cloud that connects a user’s intent with action, helping people be more productive. Bing is about fast decisions, combining the topical graph with your social graph – as well as the geospatial graph – to connect the real world and the digital universe like never before.

We are excited to be working with RIM, an early leader in Internet-connected mobile devices, to help people make better decisions with Bing.”

With the world of digital marketing becoming increasingly collaborative and various apps and social networking platforms appearing in tandem with one another, the opportunity to maximise your online presence via search engine optimisation and social media has never been richer. The new appearance of Bing as the default BlackBerry search engine is just one example of the scope companies now have to make the most of the global mobile market.