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Google Nov. 8 launched a version of its search application tailored for Windows Phone 7, which debuted today on handsets from AT&T and T-Mobile.
AT&T is selling the Samsung Focus and HTC Surround for $199 with a two-year contract. T-Mobile is offering the HTC HD7 for $199.
Of course, just as Apple’s iPhone from AT&T and the Google Android-based Droid line from Verizon Wireless are preloaded with Google Search, Microsoft’s Bing search engine is “deeply integrated into the Windows Phone 7 experience, ” according to my Microsoft Watch colleague Nick Kolakowski.
That isn’t stopping Google from trying to port its iPhone and Android search dominance to Windows Phone 7, the ultimate of insults for Bing, which is gallantly trying to chip away at Google’s search share.
Google’s Mobile team engineers wrote:
“The Google Search app for Windows Phone 7 provides quick and convenient access to a rich set of search results, allowing you to search the web, images, local, news, and more.“
Specifically, Google cites Google Suggest on WP7, as well as the option to repeat a query from search history, and receive more relevant results by letting WP7 see your location:
Users may grab the Google Search app free for all Windows Phone 7 devices and languages from Windows Mobile Marketplace. Users can find it by searching for “Google Search.”
Google later warned that while it has “flipped the switch for the app to go live,” the app isn’t surfacing everywhere. Hmmm. Wonder if that is any monkey business on Microsoft’s end?
Who can blame them? They could use a competitive advantage, especially in a smartphone space where Apple and Google have been pecking away at Windows Mobile share.