Microsoft's MSN-Branded Bing Apps Coming to Android and iOS Soon

Microsoft will soon re-brand its Bing suite of apps to MSN apps and will introduce them on Android and iOS platforms in the coming months. The company has however not mentioned the exact dates when the apps will reach the other platforms.

"In the coming months, we will release a suite of MSN apps across iOS and Android to complement our corresponding Windows and Windows Phone apps. You only need to set your favorites once, and your preferences will be connected across MSN, Cortana, Bing and other Microsoft experiences," stated the official Microsoft blog post.

Once synced across platforms and devices, the service would show user's preferred selections from MSN Food & Drink, MSN Sports, MSN Money or any other sections "at your PC at work, on your iPad in the living room, or on your Android phone when you are on the go."

Notably, the Bing apps that are re-branded to MSN apps are Travel, Weather, News, Health & Fitness, Finance, Food & Drink, and Sports. These apps are currently available on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms only, but will be made available individually on Android and iOS platforms.

Microsoft has also redesigned its MSN website giving access to the re-branded apps on the top bar along with easy access to other services including Outlook, Office, OneNote, OneDrive, Maps, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. Users can see the new MSN website by going at preview.msn.com. The latest move by Microsoft falls under the company's "mobile-first, cloud-first" vision which Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, had detailed earlier this year.

The company says the revamped site fits in with Microsoft's overall strategy of making mobile phones and Internet-based services priorities as its traditional businesses - Windows and Office software installed on desktops - slow down or decline. The changes also come as people increasingly read news on smartphones and tablets rather than desktop computers.

Written with agency inputs