Live Search rebrand coming soon

The update, seen by blog LiveSide, has since been taken down.

The Microsoft exec's Twitter feed read, “Played today with Live search upcoming (to be rebranded) launch pre-beta. I like the new features and UX so far.”

Microsoft executives have been leaking information about the rebrand to the press since early last year, with the number of reports particularly high before Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo’s search business.

Potential names circulating for the offering have included Bing, Hook and Kumo, with the latter being mentioned the most.

According to reports, Microsoft is looking for a more user friendly name and wants a name that will take into account Live’s services other than search, such as its social network.

Kumo means “cloud” and “spider” in Japanese.