If you are a BlackBerry Storm user you may have already noticed a new installer icon on your device. Verizon partnered with Microsoft and is pushing Bing out to the BlackBerry Storm. Bing comes pre-installed on the BlackBerry Storm2, but, not wanting original Storm users feeling left out, Verizon is making sure that everyone with a touchscreen BlackBerry bearing the Verizon logo is included.
For those of you that don’t want Bing on your BlackBerry Storm simply hide the installer icon. Unfortunately you cannot delete the icon which kind of sucks, however, the space it takes up is negligible. RIM, you should really give users the ability to delete unwanted carrier pushed installer icons. Not doing so really ticks people off and, right now, you need all the good will towards your brand as you can get.
[Source]
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
“Unfortunately you cannot delete the icon which kind of sucks, however, the space it takes up is negligible.”
Negligible or not it’s my freaking phone and Verizon has no right to put anything on it without my permission.
Yeah, it bothers me that Verizon puts installer icons on my phone (myspace, flicker, etc). I know I can hide them, and it isn’t the same as preinstalling the application, but I should be able to delete those.
Someday someone will have a way to do that….
I just wanted to make it clear that I am agreeing with the author. After reading my comment it kind of seems like it is directed at the Rob but it is directed at Verizon…
I just came across this blog in an effort to find out why the !#@$! I had a bing icon on my phone now (a storm) all of a sudden. I am especially angry that I can’t delete the stupid thing. Also have a new My Verizon icon, and for some reason, TWO Vzw Tones icons. WTF?!
Yeah, I hid them. But I want to DELETE them.
I have to say – I clicked on the “bing” icon – just to see what it did and … OMG … the storm now has a voice activated search with location and map support. I have been trying to get google mobile app to work on the storm (but it refuses to download).
The BING app is good – don’t write it off. It took a while to get it to finally download – but I’m keeping it.
Bing is not a match with Google.
It’s my phone. Stop installing stuff without my permission. I’m paying you so why do you get to make the decisions?
once you install it the Icon goes away…then you can delete in applications if you dont wan it.
So, not only did the icon get installed, but now it is the program utilized for my “quick search” in the BlackBerry Browser. It used to mbe Google (and I could pick from a few others on the right side of the screen), but now Bing is the only option. Can someone tell me how to get Google back? I do not like Bing!
I called Verizon about this and the customer service rep didn’t know anything about it. She called Blackberry and they said that this is a change that will be made to all Verizon blackberrys (whether you want it or not) and that Bing will be your only search option from within the blackberry browser. They suggested adding links to other search engines if you prefer to use them. I registered a formal complaint while I had someone on the phone. I would suggest that everyone else who objects do so as well.
what a load of crap this is that we r stuck with crap like bing that i dont want!!!
This problem is a boon for the droid device.
Let us send a petition asking for explanation were it says in the contract we sign that they can invade our privacy and consume excess space on our phones.the way I see it it is preventing us from installng applications because these appa are taking up unnecessary space on a phone that doesn’t have much space to install. I kept getting warnings that I was running out of memory and needed to delete some application.
I agree with P. Dub. If I wanted the software on my phone, I would have put it there. BlackBerry should not be adding things to my phone without my permission.
This download may be in violation of federal law, as it likely exceeds the authorized access
permitted under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This download is not to facilitate phone calls. It is simply BB and Verizon complying with their secret backroom deal. Also, for any individuals whose BB was hung up by the unwanted app, it could be viewed as malware.
Both BB and Verizon just fell off the cliff in my estimate — this unrequested app and inablity to delete is a huge violation of customer protocol. Bye bye to you both. BUT if there is to be a class action on this one, I will be back for my $20 in damages — not some free airtime credit that plaintiff’s counsel might agree to, as it’s no good when I’m gone elsewhere.
Finally, FTC should be looking into this and seek a consent degree to bar this egregious conduct in the future by Verizon and BB.
I’m unhappy with this “cramdown” as well. I’ll probably go by an iphone and cancel verizon. I have managed to disable it, though. I clicked on the icon and when the terms and conditions screen came up I checked “do not agree”. I then deleted the icon and the service book and so far it has not come back. It’s been three days – so far so good.
Robert is correct, tech support says to delete it from the service book and it will be gone…
Bing is terrible. It keeps getting pushed to my BB repeatedly. This is why I have a BB and Mac, not PC or Windows mobile phone. Verizon, please get Microsoft off my BB!
Deleting the service book only gets rid of it until you next update the service
books. If you do a battery pull, for example, it will come right back.
I had a back-and-forth exchange with a tech support woman at Verizon about this.
I actually am surprised she answered me and went back and forth with me for a while.
But no matter how they spin it, putting Bing on my phone and not letting me
get rid of it is unacceptable. I’ve gotten several calls from Verizon recently trying
to get me to upgrade to a new phone. I tell them, “Until you let me get rid of Bing, I’m never buying another phone, and when my 2-year contract expires, if you haven’t gotten rid of it, I’m switching carriers.”
… then there’s a long silence, …
If enough people tell them how mad they are over this, they might let us
delete it. But I doubt it. Verizon made a deal with the Devil (Microsoft).
They agreed to tank the other search tools and shove Bing onto out phones.
That’s how Microsoft works. Don’t make a better product. Don’t give
us a choice. Strong-arm us into having only one choice.