Microsoft has decided to replace its own Bing Search with Russia;s most popular search engine Yandex, as the default search engine on Windows Phone mobile devices to be sold in Russia.
Yandex has partnered with Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Microsoft to provide its search services on the latest Windows Phone smartphone models on the country’s mobile market. Yandex’s search engine is now installed on Samsung Omnia as well as on Nokia’s Windows Phone-powered Lumia 800 and Lumia 710.
“Launching Windows Phone in Russia, our goal was to provide our customers in this country with the latest version of a mobile operating system integrated with the most popular local web services and social networks. Now we are pleased to announce that the services of our strategic partner Yandex will appear on a wide range of smartphones supporting Windows Phone,” says Anna Kulashova, Director of Mobile Carriers and Service Providers Development at Microsoft.
Yandex has already developed Windows Phone apps like Yandex Maps and Yandex Market and many more are in the pipeline.
