Microsoft launches a fully localised version of its Bing search engine in the UK today (November 13th).
The engine has been steadily increasing its market share in the US, where it was launched at the start of the summer, and will now look to challenge market leader Google in the UK.
Canada is the only other country where a tailor-made version of the site is currently available.
Ashley Highfield, managing director of consumer and online products at Microsoft, explains to the Times that the company wants Bing to excel in the area of e-commerce as British people are more likely to shop online than US citizens.
"We wanted to make sure [Bing] could help you find a TV or camera in time for Christmas," he adds.
Earlier this week, it was announced that computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha has teamed up with Bing to enrich the search engine's results in selected areas.
A blog post from Wolfram Alpha said that it offers unbiased, individualised and immediate information, which makes the new partnership "distinctly different from what has traditionally been found through web search".
