Mobile Search

Google intros Search with My Location

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:40:32 -0400

Google introduced Search with My Location, a new application optimized for the Windows Mobile OS promising a simpler and more efficient mobile search experience. According to the web services giant, previous google.com mobile search results were tailored to the previous location entered by the user--now, thanks to the Google Gears Geolocation API, Search with My Location approximates real-world location via the same Cell ID technology used by Google maps for mobile, meaning a user who types "sushi" into their handset will receive local business listings. Google adds that Search with My Location does not associate user location with any personally identifiable information in an effort to maintain consumer privacy and security. Search with My Location will be initially debut in the U.S. and U.K. markets.

In related news, Google announced the launch of Google Mobile App for BlackBerry, a free download optimized for Research In Motion's BlackBerry device platform. Promising faster search and more efficient access to Maps, Gmail, News and related Google web-based services, Google Mobile App for BlackBerry also offers direct links to the user's Google Apps Calendar and Documents/Spreadsheets, as well as update alerts in association with new versions of other downloadable Google mobile apps.

For more on the new Google mobile apps:
- read the Google Mobile Blog or check out this Search with My Location video

Related articles:
Google names Android Developer Challenge winners
Google, Microsoft give the App Store a run for its money

kannuu unveils iPhone SDK

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:24:56 -0400

Search solutions provider kannuu announced the debut of its iPhone SDK, promising developers the tools necessary to incorporate the firm's indexing and lookup capabilities into mobile OS X web-based and device-native applications. The kannuu SDK provides developers with coco library sample code, unified access to data, incorporation into a number of web or native applications requiring a search solution and product documentation and development support. The firm said that all kannuu-enabled apps conform to Apple specifications. Developers may also build in the kannuu user interface, which enables search via directional controller, effectively eliminating the need for a device keyboard, auto-complete functions or superfluous menus and settings. The free kannuu iPhone SDK beta is available here.

For more on the kannuu SDK:
- read this release

QUICKLINKS: Sprint to debut Samsung Instinct June 20; Dior follows in Prada's footsteps with fashion phone;

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Sprint to debut Samsung Instinct June 20.

Dior follows in Prada's footsteps with fashion phone.

Videocon woos Motorola's handset biz.

Call Genie, vlingo team on multimodal mobile search.

Improving mobile search

Thu, 22 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Experts say that mobile customers who use search engines engage in more frequent, longer and more data-rich online sessions than those who simply access content by following links on an operator's portal or previously bookmarked pages. Search users also browse more often once they reach their targeted content destination. These types of scenarios are very appealing to wireless carriers who are hungry to grow data businesses. We expect lots of discussion on mobile search at BREW. In particular, expect to hear some news from major search vendors securing new carrier partnerships.

QUICKLINKS: Microsoft settles up with Visto; Google again Opera's mobile search du jour;

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:59:55 -0500

> Microsoft settles up with Visto. FierceWireless

> Google again Opera's mobile search du jour. FierceMobileContent

> U.K. gives Nokia another win against Qualcomm. FierceWireless

> T-Mobile denies plot to dump Nokia Ovi devices. FierceMobileContent

> O2 Ireland confirms iPhone deal. FierceMobileContent

QUICKLINKS: Philips, Motorola and Microsoft submit white space devices to FCC; consumers satisfied by mobile options;

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:59:55 -0500

> Philips, Motorola and Microsoft submit white space devices to FCC. FierceWireless

> Study: Consumers satisfied by mobile options. FierceMobileContent

> Report: 46 million used mobile search services in Q3. FierceMobileContent

> Nokia closes German plant. FierceWireless

Microsoft forecasts its mobile future

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates kicked off CES 2008--as well as his final year at the company's helm--with a keynote address that focused in part on the software goliath's continuing push into mobile. According to Gates, Windows Mobile-based smartphones sold more than 10 million units in 2007, a figure forecasted to double in the year ahead--added Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, the firm's voice-enabled TellMe mobile search service accounted for more than 2 billion searches last year, setting the stage for the introduction of the GPS-based Say and See application, which responds to voice queries via text messaging and related visual solutions.

While neither Gates nor his associates alluded to the release of Windows Mobile 6.1, Bach did address Microsoft's mobile advertising efforts: "The mobile advertising market alone is going to be about $11 billion in 2011, and I think with all the work we're doing we're very well positioned to take advantage of that," he said. "We are taking advantage of new opportunities in mobile to continue to build [a] great business. All of this is being done in the context of building community services and new advertising and business models."

For more on Microsoft's upcoming mobile efforts:
-read this CES keynote transcript

Related articles:
Microsoft: "We want mass and scale" in mobile
Microsoft: "We're in the mobile business in a big way"
Microsoft releases Windows Mobile 6.0
Microsoft blogger leaks Windows Mobile 6.1

Nokia adopts Microsoft's Windows Live suite

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

Nokia announced an agreement to adopt Microsoft's Windows Live services suite across its S60 device series, significantly expanding a fast-growing corporate relationship that already includes the handset giant's recent adoption of Microsoft's PlayReady DRM as well as last year's integration of the software kingpin's Live Search into the Nokia Mobile Search application. The deal promises Nokia customers in eleven countries with compatible S60 devices access to Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Contacts and Windows Live Spaces, enabling seamless movement between contacts, mail, messenger, phone calls, text messaging, camera, gallery and web browsing. The services will also be available to Nokia Series 40 device owners beginning in 2008.

According to Nokia and Microsoft, the Windows Live service will launch as a free trial, although customers in select markets may later be asked to pay a monthly fee. "The availability of Windows Live services for Nokia's devices demonstrates our commitment to delivering great mobile experiences and extending people's online lives--taking it from the PC to the device," said Steve Berkowitz, Microsoft's Online Service Business senior VP in a prepared statement. "The alliance will enable a much broader group of consumers to experience the benefits Windows Live has to offer, easily connecting them to the information and people that matter most from virtually anywhere."

For more on the Microsoft/Nokia deal:
- read this release

Related articles:
Nokia tops Smartphone Vendor Matrix
Nokia launches Open C Challenge
Microsoft launches Windows Mobile 6.0
Microsoft: "We're in the mobile business in a big way"

Expect major mobile innovations: Google

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Google's mobile plans
"Mobile, mobile, mobile," Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the Web 2.0 Expo audience when asked for the Web's biggest growth areas.

Mobile AdWords have done well for Google, but "there are probably other monetization means in mobile as well," Deep Nishar, Director of Product Development at Google said at a separate conference in Tokyo. Google currently has deals with the two main Japanese carriers, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, to provide mobile search for a combined 71 million handsets.

So where is Google going next? The recent release of a free voice-driven mobile search is one indication. (An interesting conspiracy theory is that the 411 search is cover for a Google effort to collect voice samples and home its voice recognition tools for future applications.) Expanding Mobile AdWords beyond Japan is practically a given; competitors like Third Screen and AdMob are gaining ground by the day.

And then, of course, there's the Google phone. As FierceWireless reported last month, Google's chief executive for Spain and Portugal confirms the company is working on its own mobile phone "as one of 18 research and development initiatives." Blogger Danny Sullivan makes the case that Google is actually gearing up for a mass release of a device with a timeline of evidence right up to a recent DigiTimes report that Taiwanese manufacturer High Tech Computer (HTC) is currently building phones for the search giant, with shipments expected by the end of the year. I would also include this job ad, which seeks a Program Manager to "launch hardware products into mass production."

Update: Last week I reported that the HTC Advantage would probably cost around €1,000. Official prices have still not been released, but a knowledgeable tipster wrote in to say the retail prices is likely closer to $800.

Carriers plan mobile Google-killer

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Several European carriers along with Cingular/AT&T are secretly planning to get together during 3GSM to form a mobile search service that could take on Google, the Sunday Telegraph reports. The carriers named in the report represent an estimated 600 million subscribers and, as FierceWireless reports, this could be a huge payday for one of the mobile search startups. Incidentally, Google recently told investors that it expects to start earning revenue off wireless products next year.