Break Out Your Wallet, Hear Comes Bing

I’ll hand it to Microsoft—they know where to go in order to promote their Bing brand. Apple’s app store. In an attempt to promote Bing, Microsoft paid iPhone app developers a sponsorship fee, in exchange for including the word “Bing” somewhere in the name of their app. Nick Wingfield for the Wall Street Journal writes that the apps were all music-related ones, and Microsoft’s sponsorship allowed app buyers free access to certain song lists (Pop 100, for example) for free. As a result, the Apple app store was suddenly flooded with lots of new apps like “Bing Hip Hop 100,” or “Ryan Seacrest’s MixTapes by Bing.” Microsoft then used its advertising syndicate to advertise the new apps, raising their ranking on the app store. A MS spokesperson told Wingfield, “It’s an innovative way that we can introduce ourselves to users of the iPhone platform, encourage downloads of our search app and do it in way that’s fun and engaging.” Turns out the apps allowed free music access only for a limited period of time, and the Bing-named apps dropped off the Top 25 list at the app store. “Fun and engaging?” Sounds just like paying for users, and not even in an advertising way. But, who am I to argue with Microsoft paying money to iPhone app developers?