Sprint to offer Microsoft Live Search on cellphones

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 16 November 2006 17:17

Opinion and Analysis

Microsoft and Sprint have formed a strategic alliance to develop and deliver a range of new services for Sprint's business and consumer mobile customers, starting with the introduction of Windows Live Search on their cellphones to search location-based content from the Internet, but this is just the beginning.

Tellingly, Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of Microsoft's' Online Services Group, commented "In recent years the search box has fundamentally changed the way people interact with the Internet, but we have only just begun to scratch the surface for what search and live Internet services can do in the mobile space."

Searching has become the main avenue of access to information on the Internet from computers. But users have complete freedom to choose their preferred search engine. In the mobile world where the user devices are under operator control, the search engine chosen by the mobile operator is in a much stronger position. So from the launch of the new service, Sprint customers will find Microsoft's Windows Live search bar at the top of its menu page when they access the Web, and the search feature will be available at no additional cost.

Sprint and Microsoft will share the revenue from advertisements placed alongside Windows Live search results and the two companies will work together to introduce new mobile phones services in the future.

No wonder then that Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft are, according to Reuters "racing to strike alliances with handset makers and carriers all around the world to provide a host of ad-supported services,"

According to Mark Schweitzer, chief marketing officer at Sprint, "Microsoft's innovation in search and advertising makes them a logical choice for us to work with to realize this vision." The two companies say that future initiatives in the alliance will explore leveraging new Microsoft technologies in the development of a differentiated portfolio of rich and seamless information experiences for Sprint customers.