Microsoft have updated their Bing iPhone app, just in time for the unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 4. The two new features are enhanced social networking integration and a new feature called Visual Scanning.
The enhanced social networking feature on the app lets users connect to their Facebook and Twitter account and see combined updates from within the Bing app.
Users can search their social network accounts directly for specific subjects or names or if preferred they can include them in their overall search results, with the the usual links to web pages. To be able to use the new feature, consumers will have to enter their facebook and Twitter credentials, after a a few minutes, Bing will bring up all the updates made by family and friends in the past six months.
According to Bing’s official blog, when searching for things such as film details, you will be able to see the times of the showings first and then anything that friends or contacts have said about it next.
This will be of great use to local businesses who can gain feedback from customers on their goods and services. The feature could even be used to help businesses measure how successful their marketing campaign is and could indicate to some whether they could benefit from the services of an SEO company.
The iPhone app also features visual scanning of barcodes. Using the camera on the iPhone, users will be able to scan any barcode or cover art on books, CD’s and DVDs, which will bring up descriptions, reviews and prices. The user will also be linked to the products website, making it easy for consumers to compare products and prices.
Related posts:
