Microsoft’s Bing and Maps coming to Motorola’s Android phones in China

We all criticize the iPhone for being locked down and completely under Apple’s control.  Android is completely open.  Developers and manufacturers can build their own flavor of Android and customize it to their heart’s content.  But as much as Android is an open platform, it’s a Google platform as well.  Or so we thought.  Motorola’s new Backflip on At&t was stripped of Google search, which was replaced with Yahoo’s service.  We know that At&t has a deal with Yahoo, so we assumed that it was their doing.  But now, we just got wind that Motorola has just signed a deal with Microsoft to offer Bing as the default search engine for their Android phones in China.  In addition, Microsoft will also be providing the maps platform and replace Google Maps. 

We were aware of the tensions between Google and the Chinese government over the included Google services on Android handsets, but we never thought that Motorola would go out and sign a deal with Microsoft.  The most disturbing part of this whole thing is that the Motorola and Microsoft agreement is global, which may indicate that Motorola may be looking to ship Bing equipped phones to other markets as well. 

Source: PR Newswire