Yahoo! Go Introduces New Mobile Search
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | January 10, 2007 | Share This
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Under the shadow of Apple’s iPhone announcement, yesterday Yahoo released Yahoo Go OneSEARCH, a new search interface designed specifically for mobile. OneSEARCH is essentially a mashup of Yahoo’s “lifestyle” products, streamlined to minimize the number of clicks needed to find information. Using icon-heavy navigation and simplified search results, Yahoo manages to organize the web into an intuitive search interface. Furthermore, Yahoo weaves geo-targetting into results by giving preference to local listings - A search for a movie title, for example, may return a list of showtimes in your area. Other customizable features in OneSEARCH include: Flickr photos, “Watchlists”, local weather, maps and events, and of course, Yahoo Mail.
The real question is, will OneSEARCH give Yahoo an edge over Google in the mobile search market? Spending on mobile ads is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year, as more ad-supported services like Yahoo Go become increasingly mainstream. Google has already begun testing mobile ads, and believes that mobile search will be the main contributor to Google growth in 2007.
Because mobile search is so new in the US, the winners and losers may be determined by distribution rather than usability. With the OneSEARCH announcement, Yahoo also disclosed a number of deals with major wireless providers to include OneSEARCH in future Blackberries, Smartphones, and a variety of Samsung and Nokia devices. At the moment, however, most phones fall outside of Yahoo’s supported network.
Related Links:
- Mobile Ads on Google’s Horizon
- Mobile on the Mind: New Mobile Services from Cingular, Microsoft and JaJah (Jawho?)
- What Yahoo Should *Not* Do
Topics: Yahoo! |