Bing UK slips beta but still lacks features

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 13 Nov 2009 at 10:04

Microsoft has taken the beta tag off the UK version of Bing, but it's still lacking significant features found in the US version.

The official launch of the UK site means that users will now have access to localised search results, with search queries for place names favouring the UK rather than US, for example.

However, the Twitter feeds and computational results delivered by Wolfram Alpha are still missing, meaning the UK version of the site remains unequal in terms of the features offered by the US.

A Microsoft official confirmed these features are currently US only, and we're still waiting to here when we can expect them to be rolled out here.

I think as soon as people become aware of Bing, they'll realise it's better

Microsoft remains confident that the UK version of Bing can snatch market share from Google and is touting features such as Visual Search, which allows people to search books by their covers, for instance, and previews of websites.

"I think as soon as people become aware of Bing, and start using, initially probably in unison with Google, people will realise it's better," Ashley Highfield, managing director of Microsoft's consumer and online divisions in the UK, told the Telegraph.

"That's all we really want people to do – give it a go and make up their own minds."

Losing the beta tag also allows Microsoft to push ahead with a marketing campaign to promote the site in the UK. According to figures from Microsoft, Bing currently holds a 3% share of the UK search market, compared to Google's 80%.