According to an exclusive report from Business Insider, Yahoo is testing a new user interface for its mobile search engine.
What’s particularly notable about the new interface is the removal of the “Powered by Bing” branding that used to appear on the bottom right.
That piece of branding for Bing has been there since 2010, which was when a deal was struck to have Yahoo’s search business outsourced to Microsoft.The curious omission of “Powered by Bing” has led to speculation as to what changes, if any, Yahoo is making to its search business.
Technically, the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft never included mobile search, so Yahoo may intend to run its mobile search operations independently. With that being said, sources tell Business Insider that the search results themselves are not any different than they would be when the “Powered by Bing” branding was still present.
That may indicate nothing different is going on under the hood, and the changes are only cosmetic at this point. On the other hand, Business Insider also reports that sources say Yahoo is working on its own mobile search engine.
Apparently, Yahoo’s mobile search engine is being tested amongst a small percentage of users. So the Yahoo mobile pages without Bing branding may betests of Yahoo’s new mobile search engine, or may be something else entirely. The question is, why else would Yahoo suddenly remove Bing’s branding?
Microsoft has yet to comment on this story. A Yahoo spokesperson states:
“Search is an important part of Yahoo’s business and we’re always experimenting and looking to improve the experience for our users.”
No further details are available at this time.
