Microsoft repurposes MSN, Bing apps are now MSN apps, launching on iOS

[Ian S.]

preview.msn.com

 

 

Microsoft's vaunted Bing content apps?News, Sports, News, Sports, Money (formerly Finance), Travel, Food & Drink and Health & Fitness?are being relaunched under the Bing brand and are being ported to the web. And later this year, the apps, which are currently available as part of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, will be ported to Android and iOS as well.

 

 

 

 

These change are part of a wider refocus for MSN, which has undergone numerous changes since its 1995 launch as an online service to accompany Windows 95. To those of us in the US, MSN has faded to the background?most know it only because it's sometimes the default home page for Internet Explorer?but it still boasts over 410 million users worldwide, Microsoft tells me. And since MSN is very much content-focused, it makes sense that the excellent Bing apps would be relaunched under the MSN brand.

 

 

 

 

Porting them to Android and iOS also makes sense given Microsoft's new "cloud first, mobile first" strategy.

 

 

 

 

These changes will take time to implement, however. This week, a new MSN web portal will launch in beta form, offering web-based access to the same content and services we saw previously in the Bing content apps on Windows and Windows Phone. 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft says that 50 million unique uses utilize the Bing apps on Windows and Phone already. But the move to the web make this amazing content available to far more people. And in the next few weeks, beta versions of the rebranded MSN apps will appear on Windows and Windows Phone. And then Android and iOS versions will appear by the end of the year, dramatically increasing their exposure.

 

 

 

 

For those already using these apps, this expansion means that the content they're saving and syncing will now work everywhere. So they're no longer limited to accessing this information only from Windows and Windows Phone. 

 

 

 

 

"In the coming months, we will release a suite of MSN apps across iOS and Android to complement our corresponding Windows and Windows Phone apps," Microsoft corporate vice president Brian MacDonald notes. "You only need to set your favorites once, and your preferences will be connected across MSN, Cortana, Bing and other Microsoft experiences. Whether it is your watchlist of stocks in MSN Money, your favorite sports teams in MSN Sports, or your recipe collections in MSN Food & Drink, those things will always be with you at your PC at work, on your iPad in the living room, or on your Android phone when you are on the go."

 

 

 

 

I'll be writing about the individual MSN content experiences and the new MSN web portal throughout the week. For now, you can access the new MSN?and the web-based versions of the former Bing content apps?at preview.msn.com.

[George P Global Moderator]

I tried the site for a bit, it looks good and performs well also.   It makes sense to take the apps and make them web apps as well.   It's also not like MSN went away, it's a good portal and still used by many people it seems.  By doing this the apps will get more use and so on.  Good move overall IMO.

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

Why MS is dusting off a pretty negative brand image... I have no idea. They have all kinds of new platform names...

[Tigurinn]

When I click on a new 'tab', like Travel my profile picture takes a few moments to appear - hopefully that will be corrected. Also I want to be able to pick my own color in each and every section (just like I wish I could change the tile colors in Windows 8.1)

 

And the new look is absolutely gorgeous; hopefully Windows 9 will bring deep integration between the windows phones and the desktop environment (then I'll buy a Windows Phone in a heartbeat)

[jakem1]

When I click on a new 'tab', like Travel my profile picture takes a few moments to appear - hopefully that will be corrected. Also I want to be able to pick my own color in each and every section (just like I wish I could change the tile colors in Windows 8.1)

 

And the new look is absolutely gorgeous; hopefully Windows 9 will bring deep integration between the windows phones and the desktop environment (then I'll buy a Windows Phone in a heartbeat)

 

I'm not sure what sort of integration you're after but these apps already sync between Windows and Windows Phone.

[George P Global Moderator]

The new app updates didn't just change the name, it sounds like they added a few new features as well.    I for one am fine with the apps going under the MSN portal brand, that's where they fit, Bing was never used or seen as a portal but as a search engine.    The apps they have just go with the overall feel/look of a portal in this case.

 

Besides, it's not like MSN is dead, it's getting a good chunk of hits each day and the new design is very nice in my opinion.

[KiHu]

I never thought I'd see the MSN brand return.

 

Honestly.

[Arachno 1D]

Rather an old brand name to be reviving kinda like polishing a t**d so it may have been better with a similarly re-branded name to their OneDrive something like OneSearch

 

Porting them to Android and iOS also makes sense given Microsoft's new "cloud first, mobile first" strategy.

There can only be one first place......... :laugh: