Recently in mobile search Category

Users rely on search engines to discover content but it often doesn't come up with the goods notes a new Mobile Content Discovery Report from Xiam Research by TNS Global. Users are  have having trouble accessing content, getting in quickly, search engines are preferred by mobile web browsers and they would buy more it was easier to get.

The study shows there are many indications that their mobile content usage is being limited by problems experienced. Here's the summary of problems experienced.

• 80% report some difficulty or problem when trying to access content.
  
• Most frustrated by time required to access the content they want - slow page loads, the need to click through too many pages, and having to navigate through irrelevant content.
  
• Overall, the provider's content store/portal is used less often than other methods to obtain content but is used more by downloader's and apps fans.
  

Yahoo! today released Yahoo! Mobile en Español, a Spanish-language mobile homepage that is customized for the specific needs of the U.S. Hispanic consumer

Available across more than 1,900 mobile device models, Yahoo! Mobile en Español (visit http://espanol.yahoo.com from a mobile device) simplifies and enhances the mobile Internet experience for Hispanic consumers. Users can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet to create a personally relevant mobile experience, keeping the things they care about at their fingertips, and enhancing their ability to:

• Discover via results from Yahoo!'s award-winning mobile Search, editor-selected content, and U.S. and global news content presented in Spanish, including the "América Latina" news section, which provides relevant content from the Latin American region.
• Stay connected through access to email and social networking accounts from the most popular Web providers, as well as instant messaging, address book, and calendar functions.
• Stay informed by bringing favorite Web content --sports, news, local information, RSS feeds, weather, stocks, horoscopes, and more -- to a single location.

Google has announced that they have reached an agreement with Twitter to include Twitter updates in Google search results. Bing is searching not only Twitter but Facebook also.

"We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months," wrote Google VP Marissa Mayer.

They believe tweets are an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

The Bing mobile search/decision engine is now the default search on  Verizon phones through the carrier's portal page. It's part of a 5-year exclusive deal.

It also appears that high-end browsers available with Verizon's handsets, like Opera have Bing as their pre-installed default search option.

Bing will come preloaded on most of Verizon feature and smartphones later this year. Microsoft's GM for mobile media Charles Johnson said that Bing searched for 19 million queries during the first 20 days as Verizon's default search engine, 10 to 15 times the previous rate.

Bing also includes fret audio directions, traffic conditions, and weather reports when you call 1-800-Bing-411 (1-800-246-4411).  Features of Bing mobile are local search, maps and mobile web search.

There is currently a Windows Mobile app for  Bing. Other smartphone users can access Bing through m.bing.com. Mobile advertising is expected to create profits from Bing.

"Five years from now mobile will be 5-10 percent of media spend but it won't happen all at once, it will happen gradually," Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the advertiser and publisher solutions group at Microsoft, told Reuters in an interview.

Google searchers who weren't near a computer when Michael Jackson died, searched for news on their mobile phones for breaking news. Google experienced one of the largest mobile search spikes ever in its history with 5 of the top 20 searches about the Michael Jackson.

The spike in searches related to Michael Jackson was so big that Google News at first mistook it for an automated attack. Because of the spike for about 25 minutes on Thursday, when some people searched Google News they saw a "We're Sorry" page before finding the articles they were looking for.

Yahoo News set an all-time record with 16.4 million visitors, beating the old record of 15.1 million set last election day. The four million visitors between 3-4 pm PDT set an hourly record. At Yahoo! Music 21,000 people left comments on a blog post about Jackson's life/death.

Attention mobile searchers, Microsoft hasn't left you out of their new search service Bing.  They have launched a mobile version of Bing at m.bing.com. It formats results nicely for your mobile phone.

Services offered include local search, maps/traffic with turn-by-turn and walking directions, location setting, and mobile webs search.  Bing has a  mobile information
page where you put in your phone number to receive a Bing. Otherwise you can browse to m.ping.com. Users so far have been pleased with the look and feel of Bing mobile.

Here are some more details of what you can do with Bing.

• Create a mobile dashboard with stocks, traffic, weather, and movies.
• Gind great local shops and restaurants, complete with ratings, reviews, hours, and directions.
• See movie show times and call to buy your ticket.
• Latest local weather forecasts.
• Product search to see if you're getting a fair price.

Bing is available for Windows Mobile, Sidekick, Blackberry/RIM and all other web-enabled phones. They also offer an iPhone version.

Google Product Search  gives information like prices, ratings, reviews, and product details from all over the web. The same tools are available from Google Product Search for mobile.

If you are in a store and having a hard time deciding between two products. Instead of waiting to go home to check the internet for ratings and reviews, you can now get all of this information right there on the spot. Just take out your phone, go to Google.com in your browser, and try out Google Product Search for mobile. From Google.com, type in a query and then tap on the "shopping" link that appears in the search results. Or, tap on the "more" tab and then "shopping" to get to Product Search directly.

Google Product Search for mobile gives you the same product information that you would get at your computer. And when you click on products like electronics and video games, you'll see dedicated product pages that include ratings charts and technical specifications.

Google has announced an  AdSense product for both mobile network operators and mobile website owners worldwide, called, Adsense for mobile search.

AdSense for mobile search allows carriers and mobile publishers to embed a Google search box on their mobile portals and websites. Mobile phone users will get instant access to Google search while mobile operators and website owners share in the ad revenue generated by searches originating from their sites.

AdSense for mobile search is a Google-hosted solution, and the pages can be cobranded with publishers' logos and linked back to their sites (as illustrated on the left.)

They are inviting people to  beta-test the AdSense for mobile search.  Those interested should fill out this form. For Mobile World Congress attendees, Google is inviting a limited number of carriers and publishers for a private information session from the beta-test form fillers.

Microsoft  Live Search will be preinstalled as the default search engine on Verizon mobile phones..  Verizon Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg  said that the deal will be announced during Steve Ballmer's speech, at the Consumer Electronics Show,  later today.

Users will be able to download a Live Search software package to their mobile phones that gives them the ability to check traffic,  look at  movie times and shop online.

Last fall, the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft would share ad revenue with Verizon and most likely guarantee payments to the Verizon of $550 million to $650 million over five years, or twice of what Google offered.

It was previously reported that Microsoft was negotiating to put its Windows Mobile operating system on more Verizon devices. The combined deals were estimate to totalt $1 billion for Verizon.

Citysearch has added a lot of new features mobile features to  mobile Citysearch, including allowing uers to write reviews directly from mobile phones and a text-to-phone service to share business listings.

Mobile by Citysearch is the only mobile guide that tailors the local search experience based on the user's mobile device.Now, Citysearch users have multiple ways to search for and sort content based on their personal preferences. New navigation tools, and drop down fields on select phones allow people to narrow their searches based on various attributes or distance.

Users can text business listing information, including name, contact information, Citysearch star rating, and more to any mobile phone and save that information for future sharing.

Mobile by Citysearch has been ranked by Nielsen as one of the top ten most accessed Internet brands on the mobile web.(1) The new mobile platform retains well-known aspects of the site with easy browsing capabilities that allow users to search by name or category for restaurants and other businesses, read and write reviews and view merchant information. Consumers can also set a default search location and go from search to call with one click.

It looks like Microsoft is working a deal with Verizon to be their favored primary search provider with a share revenue with Verizon from ads shown in mobile web searches, granting payments to Verizon in approximately $550 million to $650 million over five years, double that of what Google offerred.

They are are working on another deal to place Windows Mobile  on Verizon handset making the total deal worth about a billion bucks.

itsmy.com, global mobile communities has chosen Taptu, pure-play search engine designed specifically for mobile, to provide itsmy.com's growing community with search service, and access to an index of mobile-friendly web content.

itsmy.com's community of over two million users will gain access to a variety of content via Taptu. Taptu's strength is entertainment search; helping users find and enjoy a wealth of mobile content such as videos, music, images and lots more

Truveo, the leading video search engine, announced that it has launched a public beta of its new mobile video search site. Truveo Mobile Video Search makes it easy for users to find and view videos from across the Web on popular mobile phones.

Starting today, consumers can access the Truveo Mobile Video Search beta site from RTSP-supported (Real Time Streaming Protocol) mobile phones by going to http://wap.aol.com/truveo. The new mobile video search site taps into Truveo's industry-leading index and makes it possible for consumers to search and browse through millions of videos on more than 300 websites whose content has been optimized for mobile devices.

Users can browse the most popular and top-ranked videos from the Web or search for videos by keyword. Search results can be easily sorted by popularity, ranking, or date to quickly find compelling content

Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion announced they are working together to integrate rich Live Search capabilities into the BlackBerry Browser and BlackBerry Maps.

BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to use Microsoft Live Search as their search engine of choice within the BlackBerry Browser as well as access Live Search on Mobile.BlackBerry.com. Live Search will leverage the wireless data optimization capabilities of the BlackBerry solution to deliver results quickly while users are on the go. BlackBerry smartphone customers will also be able to use Live Search to perform contextual, location-sensitive searches or look for nearby points of interest from inside BlackBerry Maps

Nokia's WidSets service has selected MobileSearch.net, to power WidSets Search for its millions of mobile users.

WidSets Search will allow users to find new widgets, providing a short description and view of the widget for immediate download. In addition, WidSets Search services will encompass several content and information channels, including images, yellow pages, news, weather and more. Search results will be provided by the mobile web, in order to enable the best possible experience for optimized mobile internet navigation. WidSets Search has launched in Finland and will be rolled out to European and global users as part of the global WidSets initiative.

23half Inc., a pioneer of technologies that extend the functionality of camera phones, announced the availability of Thrrum MMS Search to Sprint wireless subscribers. A service already available to AT&T subscribers.

Thrrum MMS Search enables camera phone users to find and browse information related to their physical environment using the Picture Messaging service integrated into their phones. Users can capture a picture of any text with their camera phone and send the picture as a picture message to m@thrrum.com. Relevant search results are then sent to the users' phones. The Thrrum MMS Search service is presently in beta and is available free of charge to Sprint wireless subscribers in the United States.

Thrrum MMS Search brings together visual recognition technologies and information search in the context of camera phones. Based on technology first demonstrated by 23half in 2005 in the "nThrum" technology demonstrator, Thrrum MMS Search presents a unique approach to hyperlinking the physical world with related information. The MMS Search technology is protected by an extensive suite of patents pending worldwide.

About 23half Inc.

Comment from Wireless and Mobile News:

We wonder how many pictures will be taken of Starbucks signs and Pizza boxes.....

Call Genie Inc, a provider of mobile local search and advertising solutions that connect 'ready to transact' consumers with local businesses, and Vlingo Corp., a leading provider of speech recognition solutions,  announced they have partnered to deliver a comprehensive multi-modal mobile search platform that enables 'on the go' consumers to access information anytime, anywhere.

Together with Call Genie, vlingo lets mobile phone users say what they want, when they want, without limitations or scripted grammars. Consumers interfacing with Call Genie's CG Product Suite will be able to simply speak using natural language. For example, instead of the traditional "city, state" structure for 411, now a consumer can say, "I am looking for a coffee shop in Seattle near the University of Washington."

The combined solution will provide Call Genie's customers with increased automation rates for directory assistance and local search inquiries. This is expected to provide a broader and better consumer experience as well as allow Call Genie's customers to reduce operational costs by decreasing reliance on operator call handling. The end result of this solution is a more comprehensive and high quality consumer experience as well as complete multi-modal (voice and data) access to information through Call Genie's CG Product Suite.

Call Genie will continue to support Nuance and other voice platforms through its open voice XML interface capabilities.

Tellme, a Microsoft subsidiary, announced the addition of local 'on-the-go' information to its voice portal for mobile phones. Now instead of typing in a request or scrolling through menus to find information, people can simply hold down the 'talk' button, say a keyword and see the results on the phone's screen. Tellme is initially available on BlackBerry phones and will roll out on future versions of Helio phones.

"Tellme believes in the power of voice to transform how people use devices," said Mike McCue, founder and general manager of Tellme. "Tellme delivers an end-to-end experience. As opposed to Web-search services, Tellme focuses on specific tasks where the request leads to a specific answer -- like a movie show time, weather info or driving directions."

Mobile users surfing for information while on-the-go no longer need to type their location or starting point, Tellme uses global positioning system (GPS) technology to deliver local information right to the phone's screen. For example:

• Business Finder: Say the name of a business or business category, such as "coffee" or "hardware" and see the Live Search results with the business address, driving directions, an option to call the business or share the listing with a friend.
• Movies: Say the name of a movie theater and see theaters closest to you, movie show times, driving directions to the theater and the ability to buy tickets powered by Fandango, the nation's leading moviegoer destination.
• Traffic: Say "traffic" and get a map with traffic conditions on major local routes, all using Live Search Virtual Earth.
• Weather: Say "weather" and see a five-day forecast for your local area or say a different city to see weather for any other U.S. city.
• Maps: Say "map" and, using GPS and Live Search Maps, see a map of the local area or say a new city and the map is automatically updated.
• Driving Directions: Say "driving directions" and speak or type a destination to see step-by-step directions from your current starting location.

Building on its leadership in voice services, history with 411 business search and 1-800-555-TELL voice access to content, Tellme provides the information people want when they are on-the-go. In the year ahead, the types of things people can use Tellme's service for will expand to include more mobile content and communication services.

Evolution Robotics Inc., in partnership with Bandai Networks Co. Ltd, Japan’s leading mobile content provider, announced that KDDI Corporation is including the “ER Search” visual search engine on its new Spring 2008 “au™” line of camera phones, and has made it available for download for any KDDI customer with a prior “au”camera phone. This launch marks a dramatic expansion in the market for mobile visual search, which will enable millions of consumers in Japan alone to do online searches by taking pictures of everyday objects with their camera phone.

The deployment of this technology in the mass market also opens up an entirely new range of categories of services for mobile marketing, which is already projected to grow to $24 Billion worldwide by 2013. (Source: ABI Research)

ER Search is a mobile search engine operated by Bandai Networks and powered by Evolution Robotics’ ViPR visual pattern recognition system. It works essentially like using a traditional search engine, but without having to type any text or go through complicated menus. Instead, users simply snap a picture of something they’re interested in and immediately get back relevant content, all in the palm of the hands.

A free trial PC version of ViPR is available through Evolution Robotics.

Today, Yahoo! Inc. unveiled Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0. Key enhancements will allow users to initiate searches faster using text or voice. Yahoo! also plans to provide greater relevance through richer, more detailed search results by opening up Yahoo! oneSearch to publishers to integrate content, simplify search input with Search Assist and voice-enabled search, and make search instantly accessible on the idle screen of many phones.

"With the launch of Yahoo! oneSearch in 2007, we revolutionized mobile search by re-creating search specifically for the mobile phone, focusing on answers, not just Web links. In just over a year, we signed 29 partnerships with carriers across the globe, covering more than 600 million consumers under contract," said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Connected Life, Yahoo! "With Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0, we are fundamentally changing the way consumers use the Internet on their mobile phones."