Bing rolled out an update for the Bing for Mobile iPhone application to bring consumers an improved mapping experience and travel features.

Because Bing users enjoy the Price Predicator feature on the PC, Microsoft has now made it available on the iPhone as well. Additionally, the company has made the Bing Travel Hot Deals feature available via the iPhone application, highlighting the best flight deals around the world.

?The Bing for Mobile iPhone app includes several features that provide a unique mobile experience to customers,? said Camille Van Duyn, a spokeswoman at Microsoft, Redmond, WA.

?Our enhanced travel offering brings the comprehensive Bing Travel experience to mobile, allowing customers to search for the cheapest flight using Bing?s price predictor technology, check the status of a flight, or look for the hottest flight deals ? all while on the go,? she said. 

Enhanced travel
Consumers can now see top deals from their home airport as well as last minute and weekend deals, and can easily tell when the prices are available using the interactive Deals calendar.

If users have a specific trip in mind, they can use flight search to find a fare. 

The estimated price preview lets users see fares for alternate dates or airports.

Application users can look to the Price Predictor to know when to buy airfare. Consumers can also use Bing Travel?s flight status feature to see if their already-booked flight is on time.

Map update
Looking at a map on a phone with multiple layers of information could be quite difficult, according to Microsoft.

With this updated release of the iPhone application, Bing redesigned the mapping experience. 

The company enhanced the backdrop so information on the map such as traffic details, business listings, pushpins and labels could pop. 

Microsoft also increased the font size corresponding to larger roads and added neighborhood labels so users can easily identify and convey locations in cities. 

The Bing application has also added ?What?s Nearby? with enhanced map and labels so users can ?fly? through a neighborhood and quickly find a local listing. 

?The enhanced Bing Maps experience includes larger fonts and lighter colors for easier to read labels and distinction for pushpins and traffic overlays,? Ms. Van Duyn said. ?Additionally, the ?What?s Nearby? feature has been integrated into the mapping experience, showing the nearest restaurants, bars and tourist attractions.

?Mobile is an increasingly important space, and our mobile search strategy is focused on enabling customers to easily discover, access and use the information, answers and content they need and want, anytime, anywhere with the convenience of their mobile device,? she said.

Final Take
Giselle Tsirulnik is senior editor of Mobile Marketer
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