Apple Slips Default Bing Integration Into iOS 7

In an odd, throwaway line, Apple’s Eddy Cue mentioned that Siri, the voice control app for iOS 7, will let you search directly in “Bing.” In fact, the absence of Google was quite noticeable, reduced to a mention in the iWork portion of the event that the new web apps would work with Chrome.
Apple has been weaning itself off of Google for years now and with this release – and this pointed note regarding Bing – shows how deep the disaggregation has gone.
Earlier, the company shut down Google’s mapping app by creating its own (arguably sub par) solution. With this version of iOS the rejection of Google seems to be complete. While many will argue that the entire OS is wildly reminiscent of Android in the aggregate, this seems to be a catch-up effort that allows iOS to stack up to similarly outfitted devices from Google and Microsoft. Most important, however, it shows who Apple sees as its only – and most dangerous – competitor.