• DM News , Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:15 PM

Mobile search is still anybody's game, according to Barry Chu, general manager of advertising for Medio Systems. "While it's certain that the major players will have a place at the table, there is yet room and opportunity for others to enter the market and exceed user expectations," Chu says. That's because mobile search differs from online search with everything from technology to user intentions.

Chu says that the algorithms and interfaces that the engines use to create a rich online search experience have to change--simply because they're not adapted for the limited screen size that comes with mobile search.

"One example of this non-portability of fundamental components is translating the Web's three text ads above the results to mobile's one," Chu says. It may seem like a simple change, but given the fact that the PPC auction model runs on multiple ranked ads, it doesn't port well to mobile. "On pages with space for only a single ad, the system's second- and third-ranked advertisers get zero impressions," Chu says.

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