Google could dethrone Bing as the most popular search engine on Windows Phone

I have often wondered how many Windows Phone users are relying on Google Search, instead of Bing, to look things up on the InterWebs. The percentage should not be very high seeing as Microsoft deeply integrates Bing with the dedicated search button and makes it the default choice for processing queries from Internet Explorer. I can imagine the software giant saying "This time they will all bing it, not google it" and doing an evil laugh afterwards.

To use Google instead of Bing, Windows Phone users can change the default search engine in the Internet Explorer settings and/or navigate to its web page and look things up from there. Personally, I prefer the former route as it is more convenient and faster, though I would not be surprised to learn that there are people who are not familiar with this option. However, Microsoft does not allow users to change the default search engine when using the dedicated search button. As you can see, the odds favor Bing. It should, therefore, be the users' favorite by a long shot, shouldn't it? The answer is not so clear.

According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, which just took a look at the US Windows Phone market, Bing is indeed the most popular search engine on the tiled smartphone operating system, but its market share is only 52 percent. Considering Microsoft's significant efforts to promote its own search engine and, as much as possible, steer users away from competitors, the results are not impressive.

That is because the rest of the Windows Phone search engine market share -- 48 percent -- seems to belong to Google Search, which could soon dethrone Bing on its home turf. "The other half are quickly switching to arch-rival Google", says Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

For reference, according to comScore, in the US Bing is the second most popular search engine with 18.2 percent market share, after Google with 67.3 percent market share. Bing's previously mentioned numbers for the said market are considerably higher compared to its global market share, be it for desktops (5.59 percent) or mobile devices (2.78 percent). Therefore, its Windows Phone market share in the US is likely higher than in most other markets which makes Kantar Worldpanel ComTech's findings highly relevant for the state of search engines on the tiled smartphone OS.

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