Microsoft quietly developed a super app, to win market share in mobile search with Google

Although Microsoft has encountered many significant failures when entering the mobile market, it seems that this software giant has not given up on its efforts. According to a recent report by The Information, Microsoft is looking to strengthen its mobile efforts with a new “super app” for iPhone that can combine many features into one application in the hope of make a foray into mobile search, where Google dominates.

The report said that Microsoft is currently in the early stages of developing this super application under the direction of CEO Satya Nadella. This super app will combine many features like shopping, messaging, web search, news reading and more to work on iPhone and Android.

Whether such an app is launched by the company or not, Mr. Nadella is said to have set up a team at Microsoft to better integrate the Bing search engine into other services and apps, for example. such as Microsoft Teams and Outlook – “making it easier for customers to share search results in messages”, The Information reports – a step that is said to set the stage for this superapp .

According to a report by The Information, the “super app” is seen as a repeat of “the mobile strategy that has worked for Tencent” thanks to the popular WeChat super app in China. Similar to Microsoft’s intention, WeChat is to combine various features including messaging, shopping, news and games into one application.

However, Microsoft is not strictly a consumer-oriented company, with most of its revenue coming from selling software and services to businesses. In the past, Microsoft has also failed to acquire TikTok or Pinterest, applications that could be part of the company’s larger plan.

Currently, the Bing search engine is also facing many disadvantages on the mobile platform when it is completely inferior to Google because it does not have a mobile platform or mobile app store of its own. Therefore, they are forced to depend on competitors to attract users. However, rival Google not only has a huge Android platform, but also has a billion-dollar contract with Apple to become the default search engine on iOS.

According to a former Microsoft employee, the company has repeatedly participated in bidding for this contract of Apple, when Mr. Nadella personally discussed with top Apple executives. However, in all of Apple’s bids, Google was the winner. But now, lawmakers are starting to eye the relationship between Apple and Google in an antitrust lawsuit to prevent this contract extension.

There’s currently no sign that Microsoft is actively slapping a deal with Apple to make Bing the default search engine on iPhones. But in the long term, it is possible that Apple itself will become a formidable competitor to Microsoft’s search engine on mobile as many rumors suggest that Apple is developing a web search engine for its services. Many rumors also suggest that Apple’s web search engine could be launched as early as 2023 – meaning there is not much time left for Microsoft.

Refer to MacRumors, AppleInsider, The Information