Bing, the latest search engine from software giant Microsoft now offers a feature that allows users to utilize their ‘visual search’ feature to find apps for Apple’s iPhone, a move that has surprised experts since the two companies have been traditional rivals. The search is powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight and displays search results as oversized graphical application icons, focusing on the top 500 apps currently available in the Apple App Store.
Surfers can mouse over the icons to bring up the name of the app and a short description of it that includes its developer, release date, category, price and rank. Through the use of Bing’s filters surfers can view the top 10 paid apps, the top 10 freebies, the most expensive, the newest and other special categories by which the apps are sorted. Within this search users will be able to further sort search results by price, popularity and release date.
While critics suggest that the search engine could include more than the 500 apps featured, some sources suggest that it may not be long before the more than 5,000 apps available are listed and searchable. Until that time, users are invited by the Bing development to make suggestions on this new search feature can be further improved to help Microsoft gain a competitive edge over rival Google in the search engine market place.