Microsoft is flashing its latest version of bling with its launch yesterday of the much anticipated “decision engine” it has dubbed Bing. I agree the new brand name has a nice ring (according to Microsoft, the “sound of found”), with great brevity, rhythm and cadence, but sorry, I’m sticking with the generic name “search engine,” with good precedent for doing so, as Microsoft’s pending trademark applications reference the terms “search engine” and “searching” several times, with no mention of any “decision” thing.
As far as I can tell, Microsoft has not created a new product category here, one that might justify re-naming the underlying generic term for an entirely new category, as Rollerblade attempted to do ten years after-the-fact with “in-line skates,” instead we simply have a new brand name for another “search engine,” Microsoft’s search engine.
Do you suppose Microsoft’s brand mavens recognized that Bing might also stand for: But It’s Not Google?
OK, now for the rest of the story and my many other Bing insights, you’ll need to ping on over to Catchword Branding’s “Catch This” Blog. While there you might want to take their Bing survey!