In recent news, Microsoft’s search engine Bing has seen a massive surge in app downloads. According to reports, the number of downloads has increased by 10 times following the company’s announcement of several AI-powered features for the platform. This sudden increase in popularity highlights the growing demand for AI technology and the importance of incorporating it into everyday products and services.
The release of Microsoft’s plan to incorporate ChatGPT-like features into Bing has caused the company’s mobile app to shoot up the App Store rankings, reaching the Top Charts by Wednesday.
The Bing app has achieved an impressive feat on the U.S. App Store, becoming the 12th most popular free iPhone app. Microsoft’s Edge browser is now placed third in the Utility category. Further, data.ai reports that new downloads for Bing have increased tenfold worldwide.
Consumers are strongly interested in the latest AI-based experiences and are even ready to switch from their existing search engines and web browsers if they can get what they want. The trend highlights this demand.
On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled the new Bing.com integrating the latest OpenAI large language model. This has been highly anticipated by many.
The update to the search engine now enables users to have an everyday experience with an AI chatbot. This assists with sophisticated queries and helps create content, such as writing posts for LinkedIn.
Microsoft showcased a novel version of its Edge web browser simultaneously, incorporating AI features into the sidebar to make them more accessible.
Bing recently released a new version; however, it is still in preview mode and will only be made available to a limited number of users for the time being.
Those who wish to experience the new artificial intelligence capabilities must first sign up for Microsoft’s waiting list. The company said it would invite “millions” of people from the waitlist in the coming weeks.
While users wait for access to Bing, Microsoft has devised a clever way to move them up the list. By visiting a designated landing page, people can access the service quickly by completing two additional steps.
Microsoft makes its search more prominent by setting it as the default computer option and having users scan a Quick Response (QR) code to install the Bing App on their mobile devices.
The remarkable success of the app has been driven by its popularity among users. It showed an impressive rise in the App Store rankings, demonstrating its effectiveness.
Before Microsoft announced its AI news, the Bing app was not widely used. Last week, it was situated at 160th place on the U.S. App Store’s Productivity listings, making it almost unnoticeable.
The app did not appear on the U.S. App Store’s Top Overall Chart initially, but within a week, it has quickly climbed up the rankings and is now close to breaking into the top 10 and being rated second in Productivity apps.
With consumers’ demand, Bing’s app would have achieved such success, even with Microsoft’s efforts to promote it.
It is important to note that the App Store rankings are open to manipulation through a spike of downloads in a short-lived period – which explains why TikTok marketing techniques have been so successful in causing apps to become ‘viral.’
The Bing app’s emergence indicates the growing demand for AI and warns Google that it could soon be surpassed.
Google is already providing Apple with an enormous sum of money each year to be the primary search engine used in Safari.
Suppose many users switch to another web search engine, such as Bing or Edge, to take advantage of the new AI functions. In that case, Google could experience a decline in its market share on one of the most popular platforms for browsing online.
In conclusion, the recent surge in Bing app downloads is a testament to the growing demand for AI technology and its potential impact on how we interact with our devices and the internet. Microsoft’s addition of several AI-powered features to Bing has made it a more competitive and user-friendly platform, and the 10 times increase in downloads proves its success.
Source: TechCrunch
