Bing Will Be the Default Search Engine on Kindle Fire

Continuing their aggressive positioning to get people to try Bing, Microsoft and Amazon have partnered up to make Bing the default search engine on the Kindle Fire.

Bing will be the default engine for the Silk Web browser on the new Kindle line. However, users will be able to change the default to a different search engine.

Positioning Bing as the default search engine on a high-profile product like the new, highly-anticipated Kindle Fire HD devices, Microsoft as found another way to bring their search experience to a potentially new group of mainstream users.

Last week, Microsoft launched the Bing It On campaign to bring brand awareness to the masses, encouraging people to try Bing side-by-side against Google. Citing a survery where people chose blindly Bing search results nearly 2-to-1 over Google's, Microsoft's hope is that by gaining more exposure to people, Google will become less of a habit and Bing will become more of a choice. While the decision to garner the default search engine position on Amazon's new product line is not directly tied to the new Bing campaign, it certainly augments Bing's desire to get in front of more users.

Bing has also been making many inroads recently to improve the user experience across all platforms. Most notably, Bing added a suite of Bing for Windows 8 apps to provide a unique search experience on Windows 8 devices. Delivering the Bing experience on Kindle Fire adds to the experience.

"Bing is committed to delivering a multi-platform strategy to better meet the needs of our customers, including the new Kindle Fire devices," said Stefan Weitz, Director of Bing. "The mobile and tablet space is increasingly important, and Bing’s mobile search strategy remains focused on enabling customers to easily discover, access, and use the information, answers and local content they need and want – anytime and anywhere with the convenience of their mobile device."

Neither Amazon nor Microsoft would comment on the terms of the agreement. Though many are speculating Microsoft paid a premium price to be front-and-center on the Kindle Web browser. Amazon's terms and conditions state that Amazon Silk initially select's the default search engine but Amazon "may change the default search engine in the future without notice" to the user.

Amazon is no stranger to reaching into people's Kindles. In 2009, they removed copies of George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" from Kindle owner's devices.

Are you a Kindle Fire owner or do you plan on buying one of the new Kindle Fire devices? How long do you anticipate keeping Bing as your default search engine?

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