After Little Resistance in Germany, Bing Expands Streetside Photos Across Europe
Microsoft’s Streetside photo service will be taking photos across Europe before the end of the year. The expansion comes on the heels of its launch in Germany earlier this year — a move that’s generated far less resistance than Google’s Street View service.
According to German news reports today, Bing’s Streetside service has received about 90,000 requests from German residents wanting their homes removed, while Google received about 244,000 similar requests when Street View launched there last year.
“Compared with other services, the acceptance of our service is great,” Microsoft spokeswoman Dorothee Ritz told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in a statement, citing a “growing appreciation for geo-data services.”
Not mentioned, but important to consider, is that Microsoft has been accepting those requests for about six months now, while Google had its request form online for about one month. Google’s extreme dominance of the German search market likely plays a big factor in why Street View had more resistance in one month than Streetside is seeing now.
Microsoft’s Streetside website currently shows the service operating, or planning to operate by the end of the year, in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. Streetside actually hit the UK a couple months ago.
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