The NY Times has a good recap of recent developments in mobile search:
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all trained their sights on cellphones, which they see as the next great battleground in the Internet search wars. They have thrown tens of millions of dollars and armies of programmers at the problem, seeking to develop tools that people on the move can actually use.
In recent months, the three search giants have introduced a new breed of search services that emphasize quick answers to urgent questions: Where is the best local pizzeria? How did the Yankees do against the A’s? What’s the fastest way to get to the airport?
The services are beginning to carry small ads related to searches like those that have turned desktop Internet search into a gold mine.
The new services introduced by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are all attempting to provide useful information with minimal typing.
Google, for instance, has made it easy for users to personalize their mobile search page (google.com/m) with their favorite stock quotes and news sources. The service also remembers recent place names in searches, so when users type “movies” into the search box, it returns a list of movies playing locally and makes it easy to find show times and purchase tickets.
Microsoft’s software, called Live Search for Mobile (wls.live.com), allows users to type a city, then search in specific categories like restaurants, hotels, transportation and nightlife.
Yahoo’s oneSearch service (m.yahoo.com) tries to anticipate users’ needs. When they type “Apple” into the search box, it will return the company’s stock quote, followed by news articles about it, nearby stores and other information culled from Yahoo’s Internet properties.
In March, Microsoft agreed to buy Tellme Networks, a maker of voice recognition technology, for a price that was reported to be more than $800 million. The company’s free 800-555-TELL service allows users to search movie listings, stock quotes, news and other information by speaking into their phones, and see the results on their phone screens.
Less than a month later, Google introduced a competing free service available at 800-GOOG411. Yahoo appears determined not to be left behind.
“We are talking to everyone who is providing voice input technology in their devices on how to marry their technology and our search results,” Mr. Boerries said.
“If you look at how often people look at their phone now, wait until mobile search is real,” said Mr. Jadallah, the venture capitalist.
Related DailyWireless articles include; Mobile Ad Delivery for Traffic.com, CBS: Free Mobile Content, 3-D Traffic/Weather Maps, Google Apps on LG Phones, Cellular Navigation/Tracking, Mobile 2.0, Yahoo Go 2.0, Motorola: It’s All About ME, Opera + Yahoo = Mobile Everything, Microsoft’s “Free” Phone?, and National Broadband: Fee & Free.
