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| Microsoft is planning an all-in-one app to break the dominance of Google and Apple |
A recent report claims that Microsoft may launch an all-in-one "super app" that integrates its various services and attempts to block the mobile search partnership between Apple and Google.
According to a report published by The Information today (Tuesday), the American technology giant has considered developing an application that combines shopping, messaging, internet search, news and other services.
Microsoft executives hope the app will boost their advertising campaigns and increase the share of their Bing search engine. Microsoft hopes to emulate companies with a proven track record in this field, such as Tencent, the Chinese company that owns the world famous application WeChat.
It's unclear if Microsoft will launch such an app, but sources say CEO Satya Nadella is doing so by improving the capabilities of the Bing engine in other Microsoft mobile products.
Compared to the Google search engine, Bing is at a disadvantage on mobile operating systems. The latter signed a $1 billion deal with Apple to make its engine the default engine for iOS, just as Android originally did.
Microsoft also struggles with the lack of a dedicated app store for mobile devices, which forces it to rely on competitors to attract and retain users for its services. They also have to submit to the rules of their competitors, much to their embarrassment.
The company regularly bids to Apple to make Bing the default search engine for iOS, but Google wins the bid every time, according to a former Microsoft employee.
However, regulators are monitoring the ongoing cooperation between Google and Apple, and the US Department of Justice is seeking an injunction against Google's pending antitrust lawsuit to prevent it from renewing its contract with Apple for unfairly suppressing competition. With Bing having a much smaller share of the web search market than Google, a deal between Apple and Microsoft is unlikely to receive the same level of scrutiny.
For its part, Apple is also focusing on making search available within its services, but its efforts are slowing. The company has less data than Google or Microsoft because of their privacy policy.
And in early 2022, there were rumors that Apple was looking to launch a private search engine, with analyst Robert Scoble saying the company would launch in January 2023.