New Android Bing App Only on Verizon

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File this story under "who cares". It's the trend that matters.

Microsoft and Verizon have announced a partnership to bring Verizon's Android customers a "free" Bing app. From now on, it will even come pre-bundled on said Android units sold by Verizon.

Free? As if someone would actually pay for Bing.

Pre-bundled? How Microsoft! Does Verizon actually think that this will be a tipping point for Android customers torn between them and another carrier?

By the way, Bing is already offered on the iPhone (which, of course, is through AT&T). For what it's worth, I have it on my iPhone 3GS and never use it.

By the way, you can already get a Bing app on your Blackberry - through Verizon, in fact. What really gets my attention is the idea of a wireless carrier perhaps holding exclusive rights to an app (or first dibs) over the heads of customers.

What if it was actually an app that a lot of people or businesses needed; like a salesforce.com app or a Quicken app (just to pick on those two brand names for purely hypothetical purposes)?

You can follow me on Twitter @oricchio, if you are so inclined.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio