Kindle Fire HD Snubs Google With Bing Integration

There's still a lot we don't know about the Kindle Fire HD, but we've been finding out more piece by piece since the tablet was revealed yesterday. One detail that has surfaced today is that the Kindle Fire HD will be swapping default search engines. Amazon has updated the Silk browser, and with it comes the swap – Ubergizmo reports that Bing is now the default search engine for Silk, and by extension, the Kindle Fire family.

That's a change that's likely to make some waves, considering that Google used to be the default search engine for the Kindle Fire. Ubergizmo said that they didn't know if users could change the default search engine, but in the time since their hands-on went live, Ars Technica has confirmed with Amazon that changing the default is possible. Bing comes as the default for Silk, Amazon says, but users will have the option of switching to Google or Yahoo if they wish.

So, it isn't that big of a deal, just an annoyance at first for those who prefer Google. Why did Amazon make the switch? It's probably because Microsoft paid them to make Bing the default browser. The amount Microsoft paid likely isn't paltry either – the company is serious about pulling people away from Google and getting them to use Bing, so money probably isn't an issue for the big M. Microsoft, of course, is declining to comment on the deal with Amazon, but you can bet that some money changed hands in order to get Bing as the featured search engine in Silk.

Microsoft has had a difficult time getting users to leave Google behind and switch to Bing, so it's no surprise that the company is aggressively trying to get Bing onto as many devices as it can. We've seen Bing become a little more prevalent since its launch, but it still has a very long way to go before it can catch up with Google. Perhaps this new team up with Amazon will help with that? We'll see soon enough. Stay tuned.