Commentary

Mobile Opportunity

It seems like everywhere you look search occupies a headline or two. Between you and me, these articles are not new news to folks like us. It's the same old "Advertisers are flocking to search engines"-type gig. Don't get me wrong, such verbiage has often allowed us a seat at the table. I'm not knocking positive press, but there hasn't been any real "news" out there in the search world lately.

But last week, Yahoo! announced a new service called SMS (short message service) search. Why so subtle? This move might give Yahoo! an opportunity in the mobile space.

The service works with most phones that have a color screen or customers of Cingular, Sprint, and T Mobile networks. No subscription is required.

Users have to start out typing in a series of numbers. Then all the user needs to do is pick up his/her mobile phone and type in what s/he wants to search for. For example, let's say I'd type in my local ZIP code and search for Pizza. Boom. Yahoo! provides you with a listing of pizza joints in your neighborhood. Just think of the possibilities.

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You can look up weather, movie listings, stock quotes, etc. wherever you are. I can't tell you how many times I've been traveling and need to find a good local restaurant near my hotel. I've also been known to scramble around to find a hot spot. Now I can type this in my regular mobile phone (versus a Treo or Blackberry) and search for local hotspots from my handset.

What about Google you ask? Well, the search giant launched its service last October. It also lets users conduct searches using text on their wireless devices. Both Google and Yahoo!'s services use shortcuts. According to Internet Week, shortcuts are meant to reduce the number of characters a person needs to type using a cell phone's keypad in order to find information. For example, typing "w" and a zip code or city would retrieve the current weather. Yahoo! lists the shortcuts is on its site.

The clear difference in Yahoo!'s search is that once a user obtains their search reply through their wireless device, they can refresh it without retyping it. This will come in handy for those of us (like me) who find it cumbersome to use small telephone keypads. "Our goal is to deepen the relationship with our desktop (PC) users," Thad White, who runs mobile services for Yahoo!, recently told AdWeek.

Finally we can search by foot, by cab... or by just about anywhere while on the go. Do you think this will impact the search industry positively? Can you think of creative ideas that will set Yahoo! and Google father apart from the rest? Post your thoughts, opinions, and ideas on the SPINboard.

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