Microsoft has launched the Bing for iPad application in an attempt to expand the reach of its search engine by targeting Apple tablet users.

The Bing for iPad app is touch- and voice-enabled. It lets users search and browse news, movies, weather, local businesses, entertainment and popular searches.

?Bing runs great on current Microsoft platforms and will continue to do so,? said Lydia Webb, spokeswoman for Microsoft, Redmond, WA. ?However, this experience is about giving the users of Apple?s platforms the choice and ability to harness the power of Bing to make better decisions.

?Our strategy from the beginning was to get Bing distributed as broadly as possible to enable a larger audience to experience the product,? she said.

Microsoft?s Bing search engine is available at http://www.bing.com, while Bing for Mobile is at http://m.bing.com.

Bing and decide
There is not currently a marketing campaign promoting the Bing for iPad application, per Microsoft.
The application was built specifically for the large, high-resolution iPad screen.

The Bing for iPad app lets users search and discover content of various types.

The app?s homepage image changes every day, with hotspots sharing additional details about the image?including travel tips, urban legends and interesting facts.

Bing for iPad

The touch integration lets app users swipe back and forth between search results, images and videos.

The home screen tiles are designed to keep users up-to-date on the latest news, traffic, weather, stock quotes, movies and popular searches. They can access this content from the app?s main screen.

Bing for iPad helps users monitor their finances and make investment decisions. They can keep track of 18 ticker symbols at a time, with the three most important stocks for each user on the homepage tile.

The app also offers a grid view of image searches, details of the image source and full-page previews.

The Trends feature lets users browse the top 10 trending searches of the current day, as well as the past seven days, using the touch screen interface to scroll through content and access news.

The Bing for iPad app also helps users get information about movies, watch trailers, find a nearby theater, see show times and buy tickets.

The movies section within Bing for iPad

The iPad app incorporates the integrated Bing local and Bing Maps experience to provide multiple map views, including road, aerial and bird?s-eye, to help users find businesses and destinations.

The app also lets users save business locations to their address book or calendar, get turn-by-turn directions and search real-time transit information.

In-app weather alerts and 10-day or hourly forecasts for users? current location is powered by MSN Weather.

Users can save up to five cities using the Save Location feature for access to the weather report for frequented locations.

The Bing Voice Search function is powered by Microsoft Tellme.

The Bing autosuggest feature helps users refine their search by providing suggestions based on their recent searches, as well as related searches done by other people.

?Bing for iPad delivers a visually rich way to search and browse the latest news, traffic, weather, stock quotes, movies and popular searches from the main screen?making for easy entertainment for anyone on the go,? Ms. Webb said.

?When searching for a popular topic, Bing provides the most relevant answer at the top, complete with quick links to help you accomplish your task faster,? she said.

Final Take
Bing for iPad