• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 18, 2012

Juniper Research issued a new forecast Wednesday project revenue from mobile search and discovery will nearly triple to $15 billion worldwide in five years. The U.K.-based firm says growth will be fueled in part by high click-through and cost-per-click rates for different types of mobile search because users are often looking for a discrete set of products and services, and so can be accurately targeted by advertisers.

When it comes to local search, Juniper suggests local search apps like Poynt, Qype and Yelp represent a bigger opportunity for advertisers than the Web-based mobile search because they provide more relevant ad results and a better user experience.

“Web search results, by their very nature, are more generalized, despite the local parameters search engines offer. Furthermore, the Web sites linked-to in search results are often not optimized for mobile devices,” according to report author Daniel Ashdown.

Among other findings from the Juniper report:

-Google’s domination of the mobile web search space means other players need to find ways to differentiate their products in a largely commoditized market.

-Augmented reality search is increasingly being deployed as an add-on feature, rather than a stand-alone product.

-Adoption of discovery services for apps is driven by the high number of applications on leading storefronts, but faces challenge from big brands (with Apple acquiring Chomp, and Facebook launching app centre).