Mobile Search
Encyclopedia
Mobile search is an evolving branch of information retrieval services that is centered around the convergence
of mobile platforms
and mobile phone
s and other mobile devices. Web search engine
ability in a mobile form allows users to find mobile content on website
s which are available to mobile devices on mobile networks. As this happens mobile content shows a media shift toward mobile multimedia. Simply put, mobile search is not just a spatial shift of PC web search to mobile equipment, but is witnessing more of treelike branching into specialized segments of mobile broadband and mobile content, both of which show a fast-paced evolution.
).
Mobile Search is important for the usability of mobile content
for the same reasons as internet search engines became important to the usability of internet content. Early internet content was largely provided by portals such as Netscape
. As the depth of available content grew, portals were unable to provide total coverage. As a result Internet
web search engine
s such as Google
and AltaVista
proved popular as a way of allowing users to find the increasingly specialist content they were looking for. In a international journal article,'Exploring the logic of mobile search', Westlund, Gómez-Barroso, Compañó, and Feijóo(2011) outline a through review of research on mobile search usage, and also present an in-depth study of user patterns. They conclude that mobile search has started to change mobile media consumption patters radically. they also emphasize that future developments of mobile search must be sensitive to the mobile logic.
There is a similar situation developing in the mobile content
industry. Given early adopter usage of mobile services, there has been a vast increase in the depth of content developed for mobile phones. There are now few large organizations that do not offer a mobile service of some sort. Most of the operators run their own portals that showcase the best available content. However, given the limitations of a mobile phones screen size and general navigability, most of available content that has been written for mobile users is effectively invisible to users. Research from Qpass suggests that less than 36% of an operator's portal is within 30 seconds navigation distance for the user - this being the expected time users expect to find content in.
Beyond navigation is location-aware technology for mobile search. Mobile Local Search is 30% of all digital searches with a surge in growth expected world-wide in 2010. What is Mobile Local Search (MLS)? Are all searches local? What are the component technologies of a powerful MLS application? How can advertisers purchase inventory ad units available within the application structure? Mobile Local Search is the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher’s past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand-alone or are combined to comprise searchable directories.
Thus, MLS can occupy several application categories/directories simultaneously. This is a double-edge sword for product designers and developers, analytic engines, financial media analysts, and media planners and buyers needing to evaluate one category with another or one directory with another. The lack of clean comparative analysis based upon application occupancy of an individual category creates a challenge for marketers looking to maximize the value of applications to the supply chain including brand marketers looking to embed advertising within an application.
The early deals are taking place as cell phone operators recognize that mobile Internet search is an inherently different business than its desktop counterpart. Whereas people might use a Web-connected personal computer to search for information about an 18th-century British author, they are more likely to use cell phones to find targeted information like news, weather and sports. Cell phones also offer much less space to enter in search terms and smaller screens to display results. Searcher behaviour on mobiles is markedly different than on desktop machines. Searches can be seen to fall into two categories 1, on the move/commuting where there the context of local and immediate is inherent in the searcher's need and 2, on the couch where mobiles are being used to surf for information in between watching TV and engaging in other mobile communication such as sms or using social networks.
Some of the advances by the major portals in Internet search, such as Google's famous page-ranking scheme, don't apply in the mobile world since people aren't searching for Web sites as much as answers to specific questions. Alltel's group president of operations, Kevin Beebe, says the Internet search giants aren't yet delivering the kind of results the mobile content industry wants. "What they're trying to do is take that core search capability and just jam it onto the phone," Mr. Beebe said. "That's probably not the right approach."
"Mobile search is a battle to define perhaps the most important new interface with the consumer," says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer Senior Analyst and the author of the new report, Mobile Search: Clash of the Titans. "Whoever cracks the consumer and commercial code for delivering and monetizing relevant answers for people on the go will secure a license to print money, at least for a time."
Mobile optimized search engines — Most major search engines have implemented a mobile optimized version of their products that take into consideration bandwidth and form factor limitations of the mobile platform. For example, Yahoo has launched a product branded as Yahoo [OneSearch]http://us.m.yahoo.com/p/search and Google has launched a mobile friendly version of their search engine as well. The algorithms for mobile search engine results are thought to be evoloving and aspects such as location and predicitive searching will become increasingly important.
Mobile question and answer services — These services allow a user to text a question to a central database and receive a reply using text. A usage example would be a user that wants to know the answer to a very specific question but is not in front of his/her computer. Most mobile 'Q&A' services are powered by human researchers and are therefore a type of organic search engine
. An example of such a service in the US is Question Mania http://www.questionmania.com, where every question is answered via text message, by a real person. A new approach by AskMeNow
and MobileBits is to use Semantic Web
technology to automate the process. Some emerging services such as MyHelpa in the UK address the perceived limitations of one-shot, reverse billed SMS messages by using VoIP to connect the Caller directly to the Human search agent.
Mobile directory search — This service is known by different names dependent on country and operator. It can also be known as 'Find My Nearest' or 'Mobile Yellow Pages' services. The basics of the services allow users to find local services in the vicinity of their current location. The services often use location-based
technology to pinpoint exactly where the user currently is. An example of usage would be a user looking for a local cab or taxi company after a night out. Services also usually come with a map and directions to help the user. An example is the service offered by Yell
in the UK which is powered by MobilePeople's technology. More details can be found in mobile local search
.
Mobile discovery services These services offer users recommendations on what they should do next. An example would be recommending a user a similar ringtone to the one that s/he has just browsed for. They operate, in a mobile context, in a similar way to the recommendation engines provided by internet retail shops such as Amazon.com
. An example of real usage is the Directory Enquiries (DQ) service operated by Orange in the UK. Callers to the Orange landline DQ service are given the business and residential numbers they have requested verbally by an operator. In addition, Orange sends the information in text format to the users mobile phone. The information contains a text reminder of the requested information as well as links to local businesses, services and other interesting information in the local area that the user has searched on.
Mobile navigation services — These services provide the indexing structure to the portals provided by mobile operators
. They index the content already on the operators' portal but also provide users access to mobile specific content that is available outside the confines of the portal.
Dynamic Mobile Selection Interface Services — A new category of mobile search tool that is emerging is one in which a pre-selected set of possible search content is downloaded in advance by a mobile user and then allows for a final internet search step. An example of such search tools is the Worldport Navigator for the iPhone, which provides users with a push-button experience of selecting from thousands of human-screened and categorized Web selections in three or four seconds, without the need for text entry, search, result review, or page-scrolling.
Convergence (telecommunications)
Telecommunications convergence, network convergence or simply convergence are broad terms used to describe emerging telecommunications technologies, and network architecture used to migrate multiple communications services into a single network...
of mobile platforms
Mobile operating system
A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance—similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux distributions that controls a...
and mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s and other mobile devices. Web search engine
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
ability in a mobile form allows users to find mobile content on website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s which are available to mobile devices on mobile networks. As this happens mobile content shows a media shift toward mobile multimedia. Simply put, mobile search is not just a spatial shift of PC web search to mobile equipment, but is witnessing more of treelike branching into specialized segments of mobile broadband and mobile content, both of which show a fast-paced evolution.
Market description
"Competition for the US mobile search market promises to be fierce, thanks to the large US online ad market and strong pushes by portals. By 2011, mobile search will account for around $715 million, or almost 15% of a total mobile advertising market worth nearly $4.7 billion", according to a leading market research firm. Depending on a researcher's particular bias toward telecom, Web or technology factors, the published forecasts for global mobile search vary from $1.5 billion by 2011 (from Informa Telecoms & Media) to over $11 billion by 2008 (according to Piper JaffrayPiper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray & Co. , often shortened to just Piper Jaffray or PiperJaffray, is a U.S. middle-market investment banking firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and sells financial advice, investment products, and transaction execution within targeted sectors of the financial services marketplace...
).
Mobile Search is important for the usability of mobile content
Mobile content
Mobile content is any type of media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like ringtones, graphics, discount offers, games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid 1990s, the significance of the devices in everyday life has grown accordingly...
for the same reasons as internet search engines became important to the usability of internet content. Early internet content was largely provided by portals such as Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
. As the depth of available content grew, portals were unable to provide total coverage. As a result Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
web search engine
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
s such as Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and AltaVista
AltaVista
AltaVista is a web search engine owned by Yahoo!. AltaVista was once one of the most popular search engines but its popularity declined with the rise of Google...
proved popular as a way of allowing users to find the increasingly specialist content they were looking for. In a international journal article,'Exploring the logic of mobile search', Westlund, Gómez-Barroso, Compañó, and Feijóo(2011) outline a through review of research on mobile search usage, and also present an in-depth study of user patterns. They conclude that mobile search has started to change mobile media consumption patters radically. they also emphasize that future developments of mobile search must be sensitive to the mobile logic.
There is a similar situation developing in the mobile content
Mobile content
Mobile content is any type of media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like ringtones, graphics, discount offers, games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid 1990s, the significance of the devices in everyday life has grown accordingly...
industry. Given early adopter usage of mobile services, there has been a vast increase in the depth of content developed for mobile phones. There are now few large organizations that do not offer a mobile service of some sort. Most of the operators run their own portals that showcase the best available content. However, given the limitations of a mobile phones screen size and general navigability, most of available content that has been written for mobile users is effectively invisible to users. Research from Qpass suggests that less than 36% of an operator's portal is within 30 seconds navigation distance for the user - this being the expected time users expect to find content in.
Beyond navigation is location-aware technology for mobile search. Mobile Local Search is 30% of all digital searches with a surge in growth expected world-wide in 2010. What is Mobile Local Search (MLS)? Are all searches local? What are the component technologies of a powerful MLS application? How can advertisers purchase inventory ad units available within the application structure? Mobile Local Search is the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher’s past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand-alone or are combined to comprise searchable directories.
Thus, MLS can occupy several application categories/directories simultaneously. This is a double-edge sword for product designers and developers, analytic engines, financial media analysts, and media planners and buyers needing to evaluate one category with another or one directory with another. The lack of clean comparative analysis based upon application occupancy of an individual category creates a challenge for marketers looking to maximize the value of applications to the supply chain including brand marketers looking to embed advertising within an application.
The early deals are taking place as cell phone operators recognize that mobile Internet search is an inherently different business than its desktop counterpart. Whereas people might use a Web-connected personal computer to search for information about an 18th-century British author, they are more likely to use cell phones to find targeted information like news, weather and sports. Cell phones also offer much less space to enter in search terms and smaller screens to display results. Searcher behaviour on mobiles is markedly different than on desktop machines. Searches can be seen to fall into two categories 1, on the move/commuting where there the context of local and immediate is inherent in the searcher's need and 2, on the couch where mobiles are being used to surf for information in between watching TV and engaging in other mobile communication such as sms or using social networks.
Some of the advances by the major portals in Internet search, such as Google's famous page-ranking scheme, don't apply in the mobile world since people aren't searching for Web sites as much as answers to specific questions. Alltel's group president of operations, Kevin Beebe, says the Internet search giants aren't yet delivering the kind of results the mobile content industry wants. "What they're trying to do is take that core search capability and just jam it onto the phone," Mr. Beebe said. "That's probably not the right approach."
"Mobile search is a battle to define perhaps the most important new interface with the consumer," says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer Senior Analyst and the author of the new report, Mobile Search: Clash of the Titans. "Whoever cracks the consumer and commercial code for delivering and monetizing relevant answers for people on the go will secure a license to print money, at least for a time."
Types of mobile search
Within the broad umbrella of mobile search (the ability to browse for mobile specific content), there are a range of services. Given the relative immaturity of the market, not all of these can be expected to become the industry standards.Mobile optimized search engines — Most major search engines have implemented a mobile optimized version of their products that take into consideration bandwidth and form factor limitations of the mobile platform. For example, Yahoo has launched a product branded as Yahoo [OneSearch]http://us.m.yahoo.com/p/search and Google has launched a mobile friendly version of their search engine as well. The algorithms for mobile search engine results are thought to be evoloving and aspects such as location and predicitive searching will become increasingly important.
Mobile question and answer services — These services allow a user to text a question to a central database and receive a reply using text. A usage example would be a user that wants to know the answer to a very specific question but is not in front of his/her computer. Most mobile 'Q&A' services are powered by human researchers and are therefore a type of organic search engine
Organic search engine
An organic search engine is a manually operated search service which uses a combination of computer algorithms and human researchers to look up a search query...
. An example of such a service in the US is Question Mania http://www.questionmania.com, where every question is answered via text message, by a real person. A new approach by AskMeNow
AskMeNow
AskMeNow Inc. was an American public corporation, specializing in mobile search and mobile advertising. The Irvine, California based company officially launched in November 2005 and ceased operations in late 2008...
and MobileBits is to use Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
technology to automate the process. Some emerging services such as MyHelpa in the UK address the perceived limitations of one-shot, reverse billed SMS messages by using VoIP to connect the Caller directly to the Human search agent.
Mobile directory search — This service is known by different names dependent on country and operator. It can also be known as 'Find My Nearest' or 'Mobile Yellow Pages' services. The basics of the services allow users to find local services in the vicinity of their current location. The services often use location-based
Location-based service
A Location-Based Service is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device....
technology to pinpoint exactly where the user currently is. An example of usage would be a user looking for a local cab or taxi company after a night out. Services also usually come with a map and directions to help the user. An example is the service offered by Yell
Yell Group
Yell Group plc is a multinational directories company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. As well as the United Kingdom, it has operations in the United States, Spain and some countries in Latin America...
in the UK which is powered by MobilePeople's technology. More details can be found in mobile local search
Mobile local search
Mobile Local Search is a technology that lets people search for local things using mobile equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices...
.
Mobile discovery services These services offer users recommendations on what they should do next. An example would be recommending a user a similar ringtone to the one that s/he has just browsed for. They operate, in a mobile context, in a similar way to the recommendation engines provided by internet retail shops such as Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
. An example of real usage is the Directory Enquiries (DQ) service operated by Orange in the UK. Callers to the Orange landline DQ service are given the business and residential numbers they have requested verbally by an operator. In addition, Orange sends the information in text format to the users mobile phone. The information contains a text reminder of the requested information as well as links to local businesses, services and other interesting information in the local area that the user has searched on.
Mobile navigation services — These services provide the indexing structure to the portals provided by mobile operators
Mobile network operator
A mobile network operator , also known as mobile phone operator , carrier service provider , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, or cellular company, or mobile network carrier is a telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers.One essential...
. They index the content already on the operators' portal but also provide users access to mobile specific content that is available outside the confines of the portal.
Dynamic Mobile Selection Interface Services — A new category of mobile search tool that is emerging is one in which a pre-selected set of possible search content is downloaded in advance by a mobile user and then allows for a final internet search step. An example of such search tools is the Worldport Navigator for the iPhone, which provides users with a push-button experience of selecting from thousands of human-screened and categorized Web selections in three or four seconds, without the need for text entry, search, result review, or page-scrolling.
Main providers
| Name & Mobile URL | SMS# | C. Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... |
Description | Launch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 199QUERY | 19978379AUS 272NZ |
AU Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
Founded by Seb Maslin. 199QUERY is the premier Australian and New Zealand Text service that answers any question sent to it by SMS using a mix of human experts and intelligent organic search engine Organic search engine An organic search engine is a manually operated search service which uses a combination of computer algorithms and human researchers to look up a search query... . Unique in that SMS messages are then broadcast on TV. |
April 2006 | |
| 4info 4info 4INFO is an American service offering real-time answers and entertainment SMS messages to consumers, either in response to a search query or as a pushed alert. The company also provides business services, including AdHaven - a mobile advertising platform and ad network, and MediaHaven - an SMS... |
44636 | 4Info.com | |||
| Any Question Answered Any Question Answered 63336 , is a premium-rate SMS mobile question and answer service and micropublishing service based in the United Kingdom, operated by 63336 Ltd . Mobile phone users can text 63336 with any question and get a reply, on a charge per question basis... |
63336UK 57275IE |
UK IE Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... |
Founded by ex-Symbian and Psion CEO Colly Myers, AQA uses human researchers to provide answers to any free form search queries or customer questions. It was the first company to provide such a service using only a premium short code and not a mix of shortcode and keyword. | 2004 | |
| Ask Any Question | 66666UK |
UK | Uses real humans to answer any questions sent to the shortcode 66666, no keyword needed; questions may range from settling pub quizzes to standard directory enquiries. | ||
| AskDroid Desktop Search Widget | askdroid.sadko.mobi | US | Widget app for Android-based smartphones allowing one-button access to any of 260 search engines. | October 2010 | |
| Answerly.com | answerly.com | US ... | Free service where real people research questions and deliver answers, typically in minutes. | October 2008 | |
| AskMeNow AskMeNow AskMeNow Inc. was an American public corporation, specializing in mobile search and mobile advertising. The Irvine, California based company officially launched in November 2005 and ceased operations in late 2008... askmenow.com |
27563 (ASKME) |
US CA Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
Gives users the option of searching for information using an SMS short code, a WAP 2.0 site m.askmenow.com, or mobile applications. Uses natural language search that allows users to ask a question and receive an answer. AskMeNow has a carrier deals with Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility in Canada and Alltel Wireless in the United States. | 2005 | |
| ChaCha www.chacha.com | Text 242 242 or voice 800-2ChaCha | US | An SMS and voice natural language-based question answering service by ChaCha (search engine) ChaCha (search engine) ChaCha is a search engine that specializes in answering questions through a technique known as the human search engine. ChaCha was created by Scott A. Jones and Brad Bostic... , allows users on any carrier network to ask any question on any subject and the answer is provided by a human "guide", innovative because it enables Internet users (only with a US work permit) to earn money by finding answers. |
2008-01-03 | |
| DOTGO dotgo.com | DOTCOM (368266) DOTEDU (368338) DOTGOV (368468) DOTNET (368638) DOTORG (368674) |
US | DOTGO is an extension of the internet to cell phone text messaging. | 2008 | |
| Fabasoft Mindbreeze Fabasoft Mindbreeze Fabasoft Mindbreeze is a range of software for Enterprise Search, Information Access and Digital Cognition. The flagship product of the range is Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise... mindbreeze.com |
AT Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
Mindbreeze takes care of mobile information access to all enterprise ressources including content conversion to fit all kinds of mobile devices. | 2005 | ||
| Google Google Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program... m.google.com |
466453 | US | Offers Google SMS which allows users to obtain information by texting in structured syntax to an SMS shortcode. Limited to the categorical information they offer. Google has carrier deals with Britain's Vodafone, China Mobile, and KDDI Corp. in Japan but not specifically for the SMS product. | ? | |
| GTIP GTIP GTIP is a premium-rate SMS question and answer service dedicated to providing computer game-related information. The service is based in the UK, and originally launched in December 2002 alongside the Game Guru television program. The service is run by AlienPants Ltd... and other co-branded customer implementations |
61199UK 81444DE WAPUK/DE 82149IE(closed) 83246UK(closed) 83149UK(closed) |
UK IE Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... DE Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Launched by AlienPants initially as a generalised service but later deliberately limited to computer game cheats, the service is made available to multiple customers under each customer's own brand, such as T-Mobile as the 'T-Mobile Cheat Service', or as GuruGold in support of the on-screen 'Games Guru' on Sky One's primetime computer games program 'Gamezville Gamezville Gamezville was a computer games show broadcast on Sky One that ran for two series during the years 2003-2004. It was presented by models - Darren Malcolm and Jamie Atiko... '; first in-print co-branded service, in association with GamePlayer magazine, appeared in the magazine in May, 2004. |
January 2003 | |
| Infospace InfoSpace Infospace provides metasearch and private-label Internet search services for consumers and businesses.InfoSpace's flagship metasearch site is Dogpile; its other consumer brands are WebCrawler, Nation, DoGreatGood and MetaCrawler.-History:... |
? | ? | Provider of meta-search, a technology by which they search the search engines and allow users the ability to search Google, Yahoo, Ask and Microsoft at the same time. Infospace also provides local search services and offers many of these serivces to mobile carriers, in a white labeled approach. | ? | |
| Interchan www.55155.com.tw | 55155 | Taiwan | Totally free mobile search which also enables free connect function. Designed for all mobile devices. | May 2009 | |
| Jumptap Jumptap Jumptap, Inc., is a mobile ad network headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with offices across North America. The company partners with digital and media agencies, publishers, app developers, wireless carriers and brand advertisers, to deliver a powerful array of mobile advertising... |
? | ? | JumpTap offers white-label mobile search. | ? | |
| Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... Live Search for Mobile (also Bing Mobile) |
1 800 CALL 411 (dial-in, not an SMS#) |
US? | Users have the option of searching from their mobile browsers (homepage), download client applications specifically designed for Windows Mobile Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is... and BlackBerry BlackBerry BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more... devices (download), and search by voice, from any phone, by calling a toll-free number. |
2006-11 November 2006 November 2006 was the eleventh month of that year. It began on a Wednesday and 30 days later, ended on a Thursday.... |
|
| mInfo | wap.minfo.com 1066958866(Chinese) 106695882929(English) |
China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... |
mInfo is a mobile search provider based in China. They offer services on SMS, WAP and on-phone applet. Available on all three mobile carriers. Has an exclusive deal with China Telecom to power its Omni-search platform. | 2005-11 November 2005 November 2005 is the eleventh month of that year. It began on a Tuesday and ended after 30 days on a Wednesday.-Portal:Current events:-News collections and sources:See: Wikipedia:News collections and sources.... |
|
| mshd.net Question Answering Serive www.mshd.net |
413-648-7141 347-mshdnet |
US | Free Question answering service | 2010 | |
| Roboo | http://roboo.com (WAP) http://www.roboo.com | China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... |
Roboo is a mobile search provider based in China. They focus on entertainment resources, including ring, theme, image, music, video etc. | 2006-11 | |
| Mosio m.mosio.com | sms to ask@mosio.com | US | Mosio is a mobile community based "question & answer" / search service. It's similar to ChaCha except the answers are provided by the community as opposed to paid searchers. Mosio won the best mobile app award at SXSW in 2008. | 2008 | |
| MobilePeople A/S Leading provider of Local search and advertising solution for mobiles | ? | DK | mobilePeople is a private independent global leader in local mobile search and advertising solutions for directory publishers and directory assistance providers. The company builds mobile presence, distribution and advertising utilising its award winning liquid Mobile Platform. It caters for any handset including iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, HTC, SonyEricsson, Motorola, LG and Samsung. Global customers include; Yell (UK), Gouden Gids (NL), Promedia (BE), Golden Pages (IE), Páginas Amarelas (PT), Schibsted (NO), Schibsted (SE), Sensis (AUS), Eniro (DK), Eniro (NO), EDC (DK), Yellow Pages Group (NZ) and Local Matters (USA). mobilePeople is headquartered in Copenhagen (DK) and has regional offices in London (UK), Denver (US) and Melbourne (AUS). | 2002-01 January 2002 January 2002: ← – January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December- January 1, 2002:... |
|
| Picollator Picollator Picollator - Internet search engine that performs search for web sites and multimedia by visual query or text, or a combination of visual query and text... http://picollator.mobi |
? | ? | Users upload an image from their mobile phones and search for relevant resources. Designed for Windows Mobile Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is... and Nokia Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki... devices. |
January 2008 | |
| Taptu Taptu Taptu is a social media and technology company that builds platforms, tools and applications that enable highly personalized creation, curation, recommendation, search, discovery, management, consumption and sharing of content across all personal screen-based devices, and most significantly on... taptu.com |
US UK | Mobile specific, built from the bottom up for mobile uses. It's differentiated from Google's and Yahoo's mobile search in that it only returns mobile results whereas the others may return links to non-mobile websites which may not render properly on a mobile phone; also offers refined searches for images, music, videos. | 2008 | ||
| Texperts (formerly Re5ult and 82ASK) |
66000 | UK | SMS-based service that uses a mix of human experts and sophisticated algorithms to provide bespoke answers to any customer query; founded by Thomas Roberts, Sarah McVittie. | 2003-06 June 2003 June 2003: January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December-Events:-June 1, 2003:... or 08 August 2003 August 2003: January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December-August 1, 2003 :... ? |
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| Towza m.towza.com | US & Intl | Aggregates results from multiple search engines, which include restaurant guides, Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and price comparison shopping tools; also has a directory listing of the mobile specific versions of popular websites. | 2008 | ||
| www.worldport.net Worldport Navigator | US & Intl | Developed by Incandescent, Inc.; a unique mix of data access engine and mobile search abilities, its graphical user interface (GUI) includes an unusual hexagonal ring structure to enable faster selection of options than with conventional mobile search systems. By providing a mix of extensive cached pre-selected common data search options (so that direct access to the internet is only needed for the final search option selected) plus a more intuitive GUI, Worldport Navigator users can access data up to 50 times faster than with other search engines, according to the developer's most recent 2009 test results. It is currently available for the iPhone. | 2009 | ||
| Yahoo! oneSearch http://mobile.yahoo.com/ | 92466US (YAHOO) |
UK US ... | A mobile local search that is offered via mobile applications. Yahoo! has a search deal with British carrier Hutchison 3G UK Ltd. | ? | |
| www.frompo.com/ Mobile Phone Search Engine | US & Intl | Frompo.com provides a comprehensive search engine for Iphones, Blackberrys and cellular phones. Search and navigate results specifically designed for mobile cellular phones. | 2010 | ||
External links
- Forrester research on Western European Mobile internet usage
- Mobile Search in the US
- Mobile Local Search 2010
- Westlund, Oscar , Gómez-Barroso, José-Luis , Compañó, Ramón and Feijóo, Claudio (2011) 'Exploring the logic of mobile search', Behaviour & Information Technology' 'http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a927256739~frm=abslink
- Prospects of mobile search, 2010