[Infowarrior] - Verizon now forcing Bing app on BlackBerry users

[Richard Forno]

Verizon now forcing Bing app on BlackBerry users
updated 06:20 pm EST, Wed December 30, 2009
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/30/bing.shortcut.on.blackberries.cant.be.pulled/
Verizon has stepped up its tie-in with Microsoft by installing a Bing  
icon on subscribers' BlackBerries without their consent. While just a  
shortcut to install an app, the carrier prevents customers from  
removing the link and so far has only provided help moving the icon as  
well as a guide to installing alternative apps from Google or  
bookmarking search pages.

The provider has tried to spin the forced promotion of Bing by  
claiming that it isn't hurting existing services despite denying the  
option of using Google, Yahoo or others in the BlackBerry web  
browser's search bar. Corporate Communications VP tries to  
characterize the move in pro-net neutrality terms.

"Verizon isn't blocking or degrading anything; just providing a great  
option for customers," he argues.

The move to require Bing is likely prompted by previously undisclosed  
terms of Microsoft's search deal with Verizon and is made possible in  
part by the centralized nature of the BlackBerry, whose services  
beyond just e-mail can be partly controlled by server-side code.  
BlackBerry App World, for example, can have some apps automatically  
filtered out at the carrier's discretion, such as VoIP or video  
streaming services that might compete with its own.

Passive updates are not unheard of on rival smartphone platforms such  
as Android or iPhone, where new features embedded in code have been  
silently enabled, but changes to their own software are still  
determined chiefly by user-selected firmware upgrades.