MacDailyNews Take: Geez, for $500 million they could’ve bought a U.S. senator.
Metz continues, “Verizon pushed the search change over its network two days ago, the company has confirmed with The Reg. ‘We’re a proud supporter of Microsoft’s Bing search engine,’ a company spokesman tells us. ‘On a couple of select smartphones (Storm 2 the most prominent), we’ve changed the [Verizon Wireless]-supplied web menu to make Bing the default search engine.'”
“Previously, the search box – baked into the top of Verizon’s browser, above the url address bar – could be set to search Google, Wikipedia, and other sites,” Metz reports.
“Naturally, such sites can still be queried via the browser proper. But countless users are up-in-arms over the switch,” Metz reports. “A discussion thread dedicated to the change at CrackBerry, a popular BlackBerry user site, is now 36 pages long.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Oh, BTW, Apple’s Safari for iPhone and iPod touch offers users a choice: Settings>Safari>Search Engine and choose “Google” or “Yahoo.”
Sweet!
What we need a groundbreaking product to come out which breaks the telco stranglehold over the phones and put the user back in control. Oh, wait…
I’m not even a big fan of ATT, but this is why I was on Cingular/ATT before the iPhone came out. This is typical Verizon.
What happens when Verizon gets the iPhone?
Dumb pipe.
Undeniable Truth #25:
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Undeniable Truth #56:
The best cell phone provider in the US is the one we don’t currently have.
P.S. My family used to subscribe to one of the “others” (the V one), and there were only three places in our house we could make and receive phone calls. With the evil ATT and the iPhone we can call–and be called–anywhere. Anecdotal, yes. But almost all experience IS.
I’m not usually a complainer about “customer choice” and such… but taking away choice when it was previously offered is just insane! Especially when the only reason for it is because Microsoft threw half a billion dollars in Verizon’s direction! Ugh. Say what you want about their service, but at least AT&T;leaves their customers’ devices alone. They don’t force this stuff on iPhone users.
Haha, you got BINGED!
@Randian
I counter your anecdotal evidence with my own! ATnT on my iPhone has had far better reception than when I had a Verizon flip phone. Almost always 5 bars.
BTW, how many “anecdotals” do you need to quote before something is true? In other words, how many people need to believe the earth is flat before the entire planet flattens out?
/rhetorical questions are rhetorical.
poor RIM.
I’d only accept a dumb pipe that accepts it’s a dumb pipe.
MDN
I appreciate the wry humor in your take but please, please, please, don’t YOU be a hit whore by stirring up more political rancor.
This site devolves enough that way…
Left or Right, I don’t really care…as long as it’s a Mac I’m on board.
I somehow doubt that over on Politico.com they are seeing a raging Mac vs. PC war.
How pathetically Macrostoolian. *Yaaaaawnnnnn.” That’s one innovative company in Redmond. Beyond pathetic.
Do any of you think Verizon will ever get the iPhone? I don’t think so.
AT&T;is the WORST carrier I’ve ever used.
typical Microsoft ‘sales’ technique.
“The move is part of the five-year search and advertising deal Verizon signed with Microsoft in January for a rumored $500m”
SEE THAT APPLE? watch and learn, why spend $500 million improving products if you can force them to use it for the same amount of money.
Great! Now all those holier-than-thou Verizon users can find all of their favorite PrOn sites even more easily!
@ Jbird: That is why Verizon will never get the iPhone (at least with the current leadership in charge), they’ll never relinquish control.
@PR
They said a Senator. Didn’t say what kind did they.
What is more alarming is that senators are being bought and most users here could care less.
Everyone should be mad as hell and pounding the phone lines to their representatives telling them exactly what they think and want. Maybe at that point in time they’ll listen to us instead of lobbyists.
Oh well, maybe when the government mandated but free computers for everyone rolls out with Windows 9 at your doorstep you will realize what is wrong with government.
Apple “forces” me to search with Google on my iPhone. Thing is, I knew that before I bought. I keep a Scroogle page open within iPhone Safari. No biggie, but Verizon’s handling of this issue is–can you believe it–tone deaf and arrogant.
@montex
“BTW, how many “anecdotals” do you need to quote before something is true? In other words, how many people need to believe the earth is flat before the entire planet flattens out? “
Sorry, but WHAT?
Try THIS on for size, OK?
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/21/att.faster.in.3g.as.reliable.as.verizon/
A lesser person might say, “Take your Verizon and shove it.”
Another item for consideration here: We use our iPhone/ATT connection for business purposes, sometimes consuming almost ALL the minutes allotted for the month, and sometimes not.
Either way, OUR MINUTES CARRY OVER WITH ATT. They do not with Verizon . . . and that can be very, very, very expensive, indeed.
Oh, and for Altivec Guru: Verizon is the WORSE carrier we’ve ever used, since there have been only two. So, there. We’re even.
APPLE Forces Safari on iPhone Users!
This again just shows that m$ cannot “sell” anything. It forces you to buy it. It will remain that way as long as Gates and Ballmer are alive.
Decision engine??!!??
WTF? They want to make decisions for me?
I think this is one of the worst slogans, decision engine, yeah, I will trust M$ to make decisions for me.
@WHAT!!!
Not the same thing what MS is doing. The iPhone is Apple’s product. They can do whatever they want with it. We as consumers get to choose whether we want to buy it or not. MS-Verizon is forcing Bing on existing customers using handsets made by other companies. Not the same thing.
Ahh, finding ways to force their products on people because otherwise very few would actually *choose* to use it – this is Microsoft’s approach to customer relationships in its purest distilled form. Lovely.
@WHAT!!! – A few major flaws in your logic:
1) What “Joe Mamma” said.
2) The differences between search engines are much greater than the differences between standards-compliant web browsers these days.
3) There are alternative browsers you can use on the iPhone. My browser of choice is iCabMobile ($1.99), it includes ad filtering and improved search capabilities… including, yes, user-configurable search engine settings! (@ hakalautom, you might be interested in this)