During an event at Alpha Broadcasting’s new Bing Lounge in downtown Portland today, Microsoft announced the launch of its first hyperlocal Bing product: a food cart finder that provides Portland’s food cart-crazy population with access to menus, directions and reviews for over 250 food carts. While this is obviously a very local story right now, Danielle Tiedt, the general manager of marketing for Bing at Microsoft, told us that while this is Microsoft’s first foray into hyperlocal services, the company plans to expand its efforts both in Portland and the rest of the country over the coming months.
The service, which is available for mobile and desktop browsers, allows users to filter food carts by cuisine, opening hours, ratings and location. Bing partners with the Portland Monthly magazine to source this information.
More Hyperlocal Bing Services Coming Soon
As Tiedt told is, the food cart site, which was developed by a single programmer at Microsoft, is a good example of the services that Microsoft hopes to create in the future. Portland is currently a test market for Microsoft and given that the city is known for its food and music scene, it makes sense for the company to launch a food oriented service, as well as sponsoring Alpha Broadcasting’s new Bing Lounge for live performances (Bing will showcase these performances on its entertainment site). For other cities, Tiedt said that she could envision similar sites and partnerships, though Microsoft doesn’t currently have any specific plans to announce. She did point out, however, that Microsoft looks at these services as a way to distinguish itself from its competitors.
