As they did with Yahoo!, Microsoft have partnered with tech giants Apple in the latest version of iOS search program Siri - taking Google out of the equation as competitors ally against it.

Currently, Siri defaults to Google when searching the web for queries the system cannot answer - though this can be custom edited to Yahoo or Bing in the iPhone's settings. Apple have now taken steps to bypass Google altogether by making them the optional selection, something which the casual user will not necessarily attempt to change.

Research firm comScore reported Microsoft’s U.S. search share is now at 17.3%, compared to 66% for Google. But Microsoft's new deal with Apple could yet make inroads into Google's domination.

In amongst the plethora of announcements at Apple's WorldWide Developers' Conference in San Francisco, a post on Bing's blog by vice president Derrick Connell said:


Starting this fall with iOS 7, Bing will power Siri’s new integrated web search. When users ask Siri a question either the specific answer or web search links will now be delivered automatically so users can find information even faster. Bing was designed from the outset to be a great place for web search helping customers quickly find what they are looking for and get more out of search.