Confirmed: Bing 411 Closing June 1st

Microsoft is closing down their toll-free voice search program named Bing 411.

I have confirmed the Bing 411 service is closing by calling the service and hearing immediately the message:

Bing 411: On June 1st, we are discontinuing the Bing 411 service.

There were reports of this via LiveSide where they said they “received a tip” on this news. But this is indeed happening and Bing is closing down their 411 service.

Google shut down their GOOG-411 service back in 2010. Bing kept theirs live hoping to fill that void, but clearly with the rise of smartphones and voice search embedded on those devices, the need to dial an 800 number to do a search has become extinct.

Postscript: Bing has extended this service until July 1st to give their customers more time to transition elsewhere.

Related Stories:

• GOOG-411 Winds Down, Bing-411 Parties On
• Verizon Enters The ‘Voice Search’ Fray With 1-800-THE-INFO
• Google Voice Local Search Launched
• Microsoft Announces Tellme Acquisition

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.