Mobile Search: Speaking Truth to Profits

By David A. Utter - Mon, 05/14/2007 - 6:50pm.

Millions of handsets rest in pockets and purses around the world, and they represent little foldable parts of a multi-billion dollar pie for the search engine market.

Simplicity has been the trait of many successful tech-related services. Google, Digg, Delicious, and Flickr come to mind as examples. Such simplicity will be needed to make mobile search fulfill its promise to consumers and to the companies providing it.

An Opus Research report by Dan Miller and Greg Sterling said that mobile search success will start with a word:

The spoken word is the most natural way to initiate mobile searches – For safety reasons in the short-term, and convenience in the long-term, the seamless integration of a speech-based interface should take hold.

Driving the mobile commerce market, which the report predicts will move from $4 billion last year to $8 billion in 2010, will be the ever-familiar search metaphor. Moving around the mobile web will start with search, just as the PC-oriented web does today.

The wireless service providers know how valuable voice directory assistance is, as they charge a fee for each individual call to 411. Sprint Nextel charges $1.25 per call, for example, and if that doesn't make the appeal of ad-supported, free directory assistance calls evident, nothing will.

Google has a toe dipped in the market, with their very-much-in-beta free directory assistance product. Ask.com just launched a GPS enabled product for search and other services with Sprint Nextel.

Microsoft did a cannonball into the pool, acquiring TellMe Networks for its voice technology that provides a variety of services to callers. Bill Gates believes the end of the Yellow Pages is coming, because of mobile search.

That last point is up for debate, for the reason of simplicity we stated earlier. Flipping through an alphabetized index is dead simple. Mobile search as it pertains to directory assistance, call it the key to the local mobile ad market, has to be as close to that ease of use and effectiveness as possible.

News Tags: Search, Google, mobile, Microsoft, Mobile Search, Research, Product, speaking, Local

About the author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Follow me on Twitter, and you can reach me via email at dutter @ webpronews dot com. Why not Mixx this article while you're here?

Comments

Submitted by pl (WPN reader) on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 11:26pm.

Mobile Search

I think it will be big, but given the cost of mobile internet access and mobile unit processing power, it might take at least 2-3 more years

Submitted by Rick c Kern (WPN reader) on Wed, 05/16/2007 - 1:09pm.

Mobile Search

The first with the simplest search will rule. I don't want to text into my phone to search.

It needs to be fast and cheap--$1.25 gimme a break--- 5 cents? it will rock and roll.
Try to break the bank on each transaction and it won't work.

The cell phone companies will get it wrong. They have their billing ideas to punish the heavy user, not to encourage them to use more by getting cheaper the more the use.

Voice search needs to be simple and clean. The keywords linked to either zip or location are going to rule in cell phones.

www.compare-prepaid-cell-phones.com

Submitted by Chad (WPN reader) on Wed, 05/16/2007 - 12:28pm.

something to add

Bill Gates may have said that the Yellow Pages is dead, but, on the contrary, I just read this press release that says they are intering the mobile search industry head first with the new FREE YP411! It's a text messaging search. Send the company name or industry heading (such as florist) to YP411 and it sends you a message with the top 3 or so related businesses nearest to you.

Here's the link to the service discription:

http://www.yellowpages.com/sp/help/help_411.jsp

I used it and it worked; so it's good for me.

Thanks......

Submitted by Cassie (WPN reader) on Tue, 05/15/2007 - 1:39pm.

1-800-free411

I've been using 1-800-free411 for over a year now. It's voice activated and bypasses the over-the-top fees my cell phone provider would ordinarily charge for a call to directory assistance. In addition to being voice activated, they have operators standing by in case your listing is too complex for the system. They also have category searches if you don't have a specific business listing in mind but want to find a certain type of business. They're the front runners in my mind and setting the example for the rest. Intuitive, simple, steamlined and totally free.

Submitted by Burton Floyd (WPN reader) on Tue, 05/15/2007 - 8:36am.

Local/Mobile

The key to mobile and local search is providing an interface that a surfer(customer) can readily recall/enter in the mobile or pc browser as the zip code is used today. Zip has its drawbacks as who can recall 50,000 of them for use in traveling(hence mobile). Our new address codes make it simple as every business address on the ground is its address on the web.Our site hopes to achieve this distinction.www.roadjunctions.us

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