RIM using Microsoft’s Bing on new BlackBerrys

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Research In Motion will use Microsoft’s Bing services on new BlackBerry smartphones.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer made the announcement Tuesday at RIM’s annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Fla. Bing director Matt Dahlin outlined the plans on the Bing Search Blog.

Dahlin says BlackBerrys shipped to wireless carriers will use Bing as its default search and map services. Bing will be the BlackBerry browser’s preferred search engine. RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet already uses Bing for search and maps.

According to comScore Inc., Microsoft had about 14 percent of the U.S. search market in March, while Google had about 66 percent. But the growth of smartphones could present opportunities for search engines such as Bing to catch up.