Microsoft has released a completely overhauled Bing for iPhone app today which puts the spotlight on local recommendations in a new section titled Near Me. The app shoots for a richer user experience by deep linking into content found in other applications. Some of the old features are still there like the ability to perform voice searches or search for something in particular using the camera on the device.
Results with deep links into other apps will actually launch the apps when the link is clicked, for example if the results turn up a YouTube link then upon tapping the link the user will be taken to the YouTube app. Same goes for apps like Twitter, Facebook, Netflix, etc.
The app works independent of the relationship that Bing already has with iOS search, it does power searches made through Spotlight, but the app obviously provides much more features and uses the power of Bing’s Knowledge and Action graph to surface adequate information on people, places and things.
For now the overhauled Bing app is available for iPhone only and that too in the United States. Microsoft does say that it’s going to bring the app to Android in the near future but it won’t say when the app would arrive on a platform that over a billion people across the globe use on a daily basis.
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