Search without Ads?!

John Paczkowski reports on allthingsd.com that Microsoft just released a version of Bing that is designed for students K-12 grade.  The student version has enhanced privacy protection measures, adult-content filters, and...wait for it...NO  SEARCH ADVERTISING!

My gut reaction is that Microsoft has an angle somewhere.  I don't have any stats to share on click-stream revenues driven from this demographic, but I have to imagine it is not insignificant.  Microsoft must be generating immediate revenue somewhere, this couldn’t simply be a branding/PR play.  Paczkowski suggests that Microsoft is offering Bing this way to get educators using the site at school and to get students used to using Bing so they will continue to use it outside of the school.  While I believe this is much of the strategy, I wouldn’t be surprised if advertising appears on or another revenue stream is derived from the student-friendly version of Bing once Microsoft has a foothold in this market.  Time will tell.

Check out the full article here: (http://allthingsd.com/20130624/looking-for-a-head-start-microsoft-tailors-bing-for-classrooms/?mod=atd_homepage_carousel)