Bing Launches A Killer iPad App

Not an “iPad killer” . . . a killer app for the iPad. Bing’s iPhone app was impressive, but with its new iPad app Microsoft has created an even more impressive app for a rival platform.

It’s a great and very useful tool for the tablet. And yes, it’s a lot more fun and interesting to use than Google’s equivalent mobile search app for the iPad.

Users can search, including with voice, but that’s perhaps the least of it. There’s also a wealth of aggregated content including news, weather, shopping, maps, travel information, movies, video, images, new “trends” and financial information accessible from within the app.

It feels very complete. But Bing for the iPad also moves seamlessly between the in-app content and the full web.

The user experience is highly intuitive and allows access to a ton of information by simply browsing with your fingers. You could use it very successfully and get a great deal of information without entering a query in the search box.

One of the nice UX features is what Microsoft is calling its “swipe interface.” There’s no back button that requires reloading; you simply swipe right and the previous pages or content become available.

Here are a few more screens reflecting some of the content and features:

In order to get the full experience you need to download and play with it. Check out the video below for a more complete demo of the features and content. In some ways Bing for the iPad is an even more fully realized experience than Bing on the web.

Postscript: The point was made to me by a reporter at Computerworld (and I agree) that this blurs the line between app and browser. CNET also argues that Bing has presented a substitute for Safari on the iPad.