After months of teasing a new name, Microsoft has finally launched a new identity for its search engine.
The new name reflects how Bing integrates with other Microsoft services. As Microsoft today announced the rebranding of the search engine from Bing to Microsoft Bing, it also launched a new logo to reflect the change.
With the new update, both Microsoft and Bing’s updated logos are used on the search engine’s homepage.
It is however, not clear if Microsoft will eventually retire the Bing logo in favor of this more Microsoft-centric logo, or simply use both in the future.
It is also not clear if Microsoft is working towards the eventual ditch of “Bing” as a name, or the merging of the name with the Microsoft brand is the final target.
On the official blog where the announcement was made, Microsoft cites a few reasons for this change. Some of the reasons cited include the expansion of Bing’s service into multiple other offerings such as Microsoft Edge browser’s InPrivate Search, the search functionality on Windows, the Microsoft 365 suite, and more.
For a while now, Microsoft has been adding its company’s name to a number of its products. Some of the products that have had the Microsoft name slapped on them includes Windows Store (changing to Microsoft Store), and Office 365 also changing to Microsoft 365.
Some services like Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Edge already have the brand name, and carries the company’s identity.
Microsoft products like Xbox, Surface, etc, are still breathing without the Microsoft brand added to their names. It is, however, unsure if Microsoft plans to rebrand those products to carry the company’s name.
As part of the launch of Microsoft Bing, the tech company has partnered with two public figures – Janelle Monáe and Jamal Adams to help under-served communities through the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) and Why Not You Foundation.
Microsoft also said that it has raised more than $1 million overall through the Give with Bing initiative.