Bing! Microsoft launches new search engine with a blank page

News of Microsoft's new search engine Bing is all over the web today after CEO Steve Ballmer announced his company's new product today at the Wall Street Journal's All Things D conference. But curious searchers will have to wait. Bing.com won't be live until June 3rd.

Press releases introducing the product sent viewers to a blank page this morning. Microsoft has since put up a landing page and demo video.

Bing is hoping to redefine search - calling its new product a "decision engine" instead of a search engine. But launching a product that won't be ready for a week?

Bing is blanketing the Internet today — it's the fourth most popular term on Twitter right now — but the company is wasting an opportunity for stickiness by sending viewers to a video instead of the real thing.

Rather than letting users decide for themselves if the product is useful, they're forced to sit through PR materials for the product. No matter how convincing Microsoft's pitch is, the future of Bing's success depends on its utility. If users find it works better for their queries than Google or other search engines, they will use it.

But chances are many viewers won't come back to find out when it is live, and they may forget about Bing altogether. Microsoft is hoping to combat that problem with an $80 million ad campaign to spread word of mouth, but they missed a huge opportunity by not having the engine live at launch.