Microsoft updates Bing app to offer “snapshots on tap” ahead of Google Now

Microsoft has opened up their knowledge and action graph APIs for developers to use to help integrate Bing’s snapshot feature into more and more apps. The API will allow Bing to quickly show relevant information to users according to what’s on their screen, essentially imitating Google’s Now on Tap.

So long as an app supports it, users will be able to use Bing to pull up info about movies, travel destinations, and all kinds of things without ever having to leave the app they’re in. Data about locations and movie tickets and everything in between will pop up on screen in its own window, skipping the actual searching part of searching for information.

The API will be rolling out to any developer that wants it in the next few months, so Google should expect some pretty serious competition from Microsoft when Now on Tap releases with Android Marshmallow.

Personally, I’m becoming a pretty big fan of Microsoft’s software on my Android devices. Now that they’ve shifted focus to apps and services instead of flatlined smartphones, they’re creating some pretty compelling reasons to buy into Microsoft’s Windows ecosystem.

source: Bing

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