Microsoft wants to build a "super app" that includes a messaging platform, shopping, web search, and news into a single app, an apparent attempt to go after Apple and Google's app store platforms.
According to a report today by The Information, Microsoft has been in the early stages of building a "super app" at the direction of the company's CEO Satya Nadella. Nadella has reportedly instructed teams at Microsoft to better integrate Bing, the company's search engine, into other services and apps, such as Microsoft Teams and Outlook, as a groundwork for the "super app."
While it isn't clear whether Microsoft will ultimately launch such an app, the people with knowledge of the discussions said CEO Satya Nadella has laid the groundwork by pushing the Bing search engine to work better with other Microsoft mobile products. For instance, he has directed Bing to integrate with Microsoft's Teams messaging and Outlook email apps, making it easier for customers to share search results in messages. A spokesperson for Microsoft didn;t comment for this article.
Most of Microsoft's business comes from selling software and corporate sales. Microsoft wants to become more consumer-friendly and offer services directly to customers. In the past, Microsoft has failed to acquire large apps and social media platforms, which could have been part of its larger plans.
Today's report also sheds some interesting new light on Microsoft's unsuccessful attempts in the past to outbid Google to become the default search engine
on iPhone. Google pays Apple billions each year to stay the default on iPhone, and while users can change it, the default setting puts Microsoft's Bing at a disadvantage. According to The Information, Microsoft has had high-level talks with Apple to try and outbid Google as the default search engine but failed each time.
Microsoft has periodically bid on Apple's mobile search contract, according to a former employee briefed on the situation, but Google has won the deal every time. The negotiations have typically taken place directly between Nadella and top Apple executives behind closed doors, leaving many top Microsoft executives in the dark about the process, this person said.
According to the report, Microsoft ran a public relations campaign in 2012 to show how Bing was better for people with vision disabilities than it was for the general public. It wasn't enough to win Apple's approval.
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