Multimodal Mobile

Philippe Jeanrenaud, Director, Speech Mobility Marketing, EMEA at Nuance, looks at the trend towards offering multiple forms of text input and commands on mobiles

It seems as though the mobile device market has been evolving and growing at break-neck speed over the last few years, particularly with the advent of the iPhone. We’re relying on our phones more than ever to not only make calls, but to send text messages and emails, download music, get directions to a coffee shop we just found by searching the web on the phone – it’s amazing, and it’s only going to continue to get better with the downloadable application market rapidly heating up.
But just as we have an amazing pool of applications and services at our disposal to get our devices to do just about anything, so getting access to those apps faster and more easily becomes a key challenge for handset manufacturers and carriers. In addition to the clear need to ensure the user experience is the best one for their consumers, there is also  huge revenue potential at stake. Easier access to, and increased usage of, applications and services ultimately increases the average revenue per user (ARPU). And it’s all about ARPU, right?
Predictive text and speech recognition software are already playing a role in creating that path to the ultimate user experience, and many of the phones coming to market today have both predictive text for faster and easier texting, and basic speech capabilities like Voice Activated Dialling (VAD). But this calibre of implementation is just scratching the surface of how powerful a multimodal input approach can be for creating an amazing user experience that drives revenue and brand loyalty. And of course, there are a number of external factors, like distracted driver legislation, that clearly demonstrate the value of input options being fully integrated.

The keypad evolution 
The evolution of the phone keypad is a good example of how we’re beginning to see increased multimodality on mobile phones – whereas most traditional consumer phones used to only include a 12-key phone pad, the full QWERTY keyboard made its way first onto the BlackBerry, and now onto more and more feature phones. Largely driven by texting and the evolution of lower-level devices being able to handle email, consumers demand faster and easier text input capabilities. With that in mind, we’ve seen many devices over the last few years that feature a 12-key phone pad on the main interface for easy dialling, and a slide-out QWERTY keypad for easy texting and emailing. Consumers to get the best of both worlds – easy calls and easy texts.
But with advent of the iPhone came the touchscreen user interface (and of course, the app store phenomenon) – and a new era in mobile phones was born, with touchscreen devices mow available from several handset makers.
In just the last two-three years, we’ve seen an evolution of modality on the keypad. And there is a clear market for both – with mobile users addicted to the look and feel of the touchscreen, and those who wouldn’t dream of giving up their hard QWERTY keypad. 

Moving beyond VAD
As mentioned earlier, many of today’s phones have basic voice recognition capabilities for dialling numbers and finding contacts, and checking the status of your phone’s battery, eliminating the need to scroll through address books and menus. Voice input is perhaps the fastest and easiest input method, which is why there is an increasing adoption of expanded voice command and control capabilities. In fact, Datamonitor recently released a report stating that the market for advanced speech recognition technologies in mobile devices will triple over the next five years, rising from $32.7 million (£19.7 million) in 2009 to $99.6 million in 2014. We’re seeing this traction unfold, with many of today’s higher-end feature phones now enabling users to access just about any application or service on the device with their voice. Looking to play BubbleSmile? Just say “Go to BubbleSmile” and you’re there. Need to send a text message to John Smith? Just say “Send text to John Smith,” and the input field appears. 
This is where the multimodality of speech and text input are increasingly intersecting, and where the myth of the multimodal handsets is starting to become a reality. For instance, Samsung devices like the Instinct and the Memoir allow users to pull up the text input screen with their voice, and automatically bring them into a touchscreen QWERTY text input field that features predictive text. And of course, there are devices coming to market with full dictation capabilities, where you launch the text application with voice, dictate the message and then send it with a simple voice command – no text input at all. This completely voice-enabled phone is not far from hitting the market, and the technology is here today, where consumers can surf the web, download music and get directions – all via voice commands.

Complementary solution
So why the need for a complementary input solution when voice-driven access is the fastest and the easiest? Simply put, there are many situations where speech input isn’t appropriate. If you’re in a meeting, and you need to send a message to your boss that you’re about to close a major deal, traditional texting is clearly more appropriate. Or if you’re at a concert and want to download the new song your favourite band just played, you’ll likely have a hard time with the voice query in an incredibly noisy environment.
Similarly, there are many situations where text or manual input just doesn’t work either –especially while driving. Many governments across the globe are passing legislation that mandates hands-free control of phones as a means of thwarting the user’s ability to text while driving. And for good reason: a 2008 study conducted by the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany found that utilizing speech to even dial a number on their phone improved the user’s ability to maintain the ideal car position by 19% when compared to manual dialling. Better still; speech input was also approximately 40% faster in making a call, reducing the distraction period by the same amount. With the fully speech-enabled handset, drivers have the ability to interact with their device as needed. 

Multimodal output
Today’s mobile consumers are quickly realizing that multimodality is more than just input – it’s also about output, and the ability to manage services. Voicemail to text services are perhaps one of the best examples of this, where voice messages are intercepted by an automated service or team of transcriptionists to transcribe a message that is then delivered straight to the user’s inbox, or sent as a text message. Gone are the days of having to listen to a voicemail, then write down a number or message, or worse, missing a voicemail if you can’t access your phone – it’s all completed in a matter of minutes for you and dropped into your inbox.
With regards to output, text-to-speech technology is increasingly being integrated into today’s devices to confirm that an interaction with the phone succeeded or failed, read back text messages, confirm phone numbers and contact information, read aloud directions, and more. Text-to-speech integrated with speech input is the key to the truly hands-free device, where consumers are able to have a conversation with their phone to do virtually anything, such as download a song or get directions. This is one of the most exciting advancements in multimodality, that we’re going to see more of in the coming months.
It’s also worth noting that similar output exists for the hands-on experience as well, with hard and touchscreen keyboards providing haptic feedback, such as a vibration or sound, to confirm that the interaction has taken place. 
Speech and text are increasingly becoming intertwined and integrated on the phone as part of the best possible user experience, that gives consumers the ability to access what they need when they need it, which in turn is driving increased brand loyalty and revenue opportunities for OEMs and operators.  
A key aspect of multimodality that cannot be lost, however, is keeping that ‘power to choose’ input in the user’s hands. Each user’s experience is their own, so it’s important to not completely dictate their interaction with the device and what input method they need – some will likely rely heavily on speech as more phones come to market with advanced capabilities. And of course, there are those who often find themselves in situations where text input is a must have. It’s all about what the user is trying to achieve, and ensuring they have the utmost innovative input technology to get there.   

Future-forward multimodality
Multimodal input and output is an exciting area to watch, as additional areas of speech technology become closely integrated with mobile applications and services. For instance, imagine combining interactive voice response (IVR) technology with enhanced output on the device. One example is calling 1-800-FLOWERS, where the IVR options are enhanced on the screen of the device, providing pictures of the flower options with pricing information, or the ability to design your own flower arrangement right from your phone. To help ensure consumers continue using the service, 1-800-FLOWERS would remember what you ordered in the past, your preferences, etc., and enable the user to place similar orders easier and faster, using voice or text input, right from the phone.  
This scenario is a culmination of on and off-device applications, intertwined with a variety of input and output options that not only drive value for OEMs and operators, but also for the companies that sign on for them.
There’s no doubt that multimodality will continuously evolve, as it provides a richer user experience, enabling consumers to leverage the input and output methods that are best suited for them moment to moment.

Taptu Launches iPhone App

Mobile search specialist Taptu has announced the availability of its iPhone app. The company notes that performing a search on an iPhone can be a frustrating task, as the results are the same as those received on a desktop search and may not be viewable on a phone, for example a web site running on Flash.  Additionally, results are provided in long lists and multiple pages.
Taptu’s iPhone app only provides results that are iPhone-optimized, which eliminates the hassle of resizing, pinching and refocusing sites. Instead of scrolling down a list of search results as they would on a desktop PC, Taptu iPhone app users flick through the visual previews of the results produced by Taptu horizontally (the same way that photos are viewed on the iPhone). The visual preview slides lets users quickly navigate through results and select the most relevant one.
In addition to providing comprehensive search engine results, the app also enables  users to filter search results and find information from specific source or types, for example Twitter, Wikipedia, blogs or videos. Results can be shared via Twitter, Facebook and email, and to help users expand their outlook, the app presents recommended and related searches including charts, lists and “also try’s.”
“With iPhone-search continuing to grow, it is vital to make search as simple as possible, while providing users with the most relevant content on their devices,” says Taptu CEO, Steve Ives. “Taptu’s iPhone app allows users to quickly and easily search through iPhone-optimized results in an intuitive and visual interface. The launch of the iPhone app is a huge step for Taptu, as the app addresses a key need for iPhone users.”
The Taptu iPhone app is available now as a free download in the iPhone App Store and is compatible with all versions of iPhone and iPod touch. Owners of mobile or iPhone-optimized sites can ensure they are on Taptu by submitting their site here.
Taptu’s mobile search engine is available in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German and generates in excess of 1 million searches a day. Taptu is available via mobile browsers and now via the Taptu iPhone app.

Nuance Launches Online Store for T9 Nav

Nuance Communications created a dedicated T9 Nav Online Store for its T9 Nav solution, and is celebrating the launch of the store by dropping the price of  the solution to £5.99.
T9 Nav is a search and discovery solution for Series 60 third edition phones, which according to Nuance, reduces search and discovery time by close to 70%. T9 Nav leverages the Nuance’s T9 predictive text technology to simplify navigation and discovery of on- and off-device applications, content and information.
By typing with just one key press per letter from the idle screen, consumers bypass complex menu structures and numerous key presses to find a contact, an application, a game, a song or a public bookmark – in fact, any feature or service available on the device or on the operator’s network.
For instance, users can simply press: 2 5 8 (b l u) to find and set their Bluetooth; 3 3 6 (d e n) to access a dentist appointment in their calendar; 6 2 3 (m a d) to access Madonna songs on the device; or 322 (f a c) to quickly access their mobile Facebook account. (Users of phones with QWERTY keyboards simply press the appropriate letters.)
This flattening of the user interface reduces task completion time by up to 67%, and as a result, enhances productivity and convenience. T9 Nav also adapts to the user’s behaviour to ensure delivery of relevant and accurate results.
“T9 Nav is very popular and has received rave reviews from users who find this tool indispensable,” says Philippe Jeanrenaud, Nuance’s Marketing Manager, Mobility Solutions, EMEA. “We are also finding that users are very receptive to the public bookmarks proposed by T9 Nav, which allow them to access popular mobile sites by just entering a keyword. Over 30% of T9 Nav users are already using these bookmarks
T9 Nav features broad language support, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian.

Taptu Clocks Up 1m Searches Per Day

Mobile search engine Taptu has reached a milestone with the news that it is now carrying out more than 1 million searches on a daily basis. The service attracted 3.4 million unique users in April.
Taptu says it improves mobile search by resolving one simple question: If a Web site does not work well on a mobile device, then why should it show up in a mobile search? Taptu only crawls the mobile-friendly web and users are only presented with relevant sites that are optimized for viewing on their mobile devices. In addition, Taptu provides users with a visual preview of each site in their search results, enabling them to determine if the site is relevant to them before selecting the result.
Taptu says it also understands that mobile search isn’t always about finding the needle in a haystack, and that discovery is an essential part of the Taptu service, with recommended related searches and ‘Top Searches of the Day’.
“With the increase in Taptu searches, users have made it clear that there is a distinct need for a mobile-only search engine with results best viewed on mobile devices,” says Taptu CEO, Steve Ives. “I am excited by the exponential growth of Taptu searches, and proud of the team for reaching this milestone. We’re looking forward to expanding our footprint in the mobile search market with the upcoming launch of the Taptu iPhone application.”

Virgin Media Launches LBS-enabled Mobile Portal

Virgin Media has launched a mobile Internet portal, available for all UK mobile users, featuring the RoundU local search service provided by location-based services (LBS) provider, Mobile Commerce.
RoundU is free to use and integrates handset location with a comprehensive range of local information. Using listings aggregated from Mobile Commerce partners, including toptable, Itchy Guides and The Press Association, the service brings a full range of UK arts and entertainment content, as well as Thomson business listings, to the handset.
Users can find and book cinema tickets, secure a restaurant table, read local gig reviews, find a hotel room and the nearest cash machine or petrol station, using a simple menu on their handset. This is combined with updated Multimap mapping, to ensure that users can easily locate their choice of venue.
 “This is very exciting partnership for us, and to be working with such a large and respected high profile, company as Virgin Media - with 10 million customers - is something we’re relishing,” says Mobile Commerce CEO, Steve Page. “Our RoundU service is designed to meet the demands of people’s ever busier lives. Not only do we have over 11,000 recommended drinking and dining venues and 1.9 million business search listings, but the service is integrated with our ad server, so it can be monetised with relevant advertising and sponsorship. This deal is another endorsement of our leadership in mobile content aggregation and location based search.”

Yahoo! Adds Voice Search to iPhone App

Yahoo! has upgraded its Yahoo! Mobile iPhone app to include voice search, which enables consumers to speak their search queries to get quick, relevant answers simply by speaking their query.
Yahoo! notes that while most mobile voice recognition systems are specific to vertical categories such as local listings, oneSearch with voice lets consumers perform searches for virtually any kind of query.
The Yahoo! oneSearch with voice application is currently available on more than 80 different devices and across platforms including Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and the iPhone, with support in eight languages.
As mobile devices become more sophisticated, mobile media consumption is increasing, the company says. Over 45% of people who have bought a device in the last six months have browsed the Internet or downloaded an application, according to comScore. As this penetration continues, mobile search is playing an increasingly important part of people’s mobile Internet experience, with ease-of-access and discoverability a key factor in consumers getting what they want, when they want it.
 oneSearch returns results in categories rather than a list of links. For example, search for ‘Formula 1’ and results are divided into the latest race results, the drivers’ table, the constructors’ table, images, web pages and so on.
The Yahoo! Mobile iPhone app can be downloaded through the iPhone app store. Users with devices on other platforms can download the app by visiting http://m.yahoo.com/voice on their  mobile browser.
Additionally, Yahoo! has also announced a Yahoo! oneSearch shortcut for Windows Mobile in 21 countries, providing mobile users with one-click access to the search box.

Mobile Commerce Wins Trinity Mirror Search Brief

The Trinity Mirror Group has implemented Mobile Commerce’s Monetised Mobile Search service across all 13 of its newly-launched mobile sites. Mobile Commerce says its monetised search solution was chosen, not only because it’s quick and easy to implement, but also because it’s a white label solution and gives the publisher control and flexibility over how they want to deliver the search experience to their users, including integration with its own on-portal search results. Mobile Commerce’s solution delivers advertiser listings and natural search results which are all optimised for the mobile Internet. There are no costs to the publisher for using the service, and they earn revenue when an advertiser listing is clicked on.
The solution comes with a comprehensive suite of online reports, detailing usage metrics and analysis. This includes a taxonomy report which groups popular search terms together into a hierarchy of categories, as well as assimilating common misspellings based on intent. This enables the publisher to get an accurate insight into what their users are searching for. Usage reports also include origin and time of search; top search terms; advertiser position (i.e. rankings by the amount an advertiser is prepared to pay each time a link to an advert is selected); and click types – the total number of searches and end user clicks broken down by sponsored results and mobile web results respectively.
The 13 Trinity Mirror mobile sites utilising Mobile Commerce’s technology are: The Daily Mirror, The Evening Chronicle, The Journal, Teeside Evening Gazette, Daily Record, Liverpool Daily Post, The Liverpool Echo, Huddersfield Examiner, Welsh Daily Post, Walesonline, The Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail, and the Coventry Evening Telegraph. All the sites are managed by Blue Star Mobile.
“To play a part in this rollout by Trinity Mirror, Britain’s biggest newspaper group, is very exciting for us,” says Mobile Commerce CEO, Steve Page. “Monetising their push into multiplatform shows exactly what Mobile Commerce can do for publishers. It’s further proof of the growing market for mobile and mobile search, as consumers increasingly demand their content on a mobile platform.”

Playing the Touch Search Card

My final briefing of the day was with mobile search company Taptu which focuses on entertainment content such as music and videos. According to Taptu COO, Andreas Bernstrom, this type of content accounts for around 75% of searches on the mobile.
Since its launch, the company has set out to make mobile search more, er mobile. What that means is that the results of aTaptu search won’t look like the results of a desktop search on the same term, and everything returned will be capable of being consumed on the mobile. In addition, it includes a cached summary of each search result to give the user a better idea as to whether that result is the one that is going to be most useful to them. It also tries to return related results that the user might be interested in. So search on ‘U2’ for example, and in addition to U2-related content, you will also get links to sites about other Irish bands.
Now, the company is turning its attention to the iPhone, with an iPhone app version of its search engine that is due to be released at the beginning of April. The app will return search results in the familiar ‘deck of cards’ fashion, enabling users to see each result as a separate card. They can flick the card over to share the result with friends, and if they opt to click through to the site, the site is overlaid on the search result, so they can go back to the results by closing the Safari browser window.
This new way of presenting search results presents additional advertising opportunities. Search on a movie title, for example, and one of the results could be a trailer for the movie in question, from where you could click through to but tickets to see it. Taptu is also planning to enable users to save content such as trailers returned in search results for viewing offline.
Watching Bernstrom flick through the search results on his iPhone, it did not look particularly revolutionary, as this is what iPhone users do when viewing content such as photos, for example. But as Bernstrom notes, surprisingly, this type of interface is not currently available for search on the iPhone. In a few weeks time, thanks to Taptu, it will be, and according to Bernstrom, once the iPhone app is up and running, porting it to other touch devices will be relatively straightforward.

Horses for Courses

Steve Ives, CEO at Taptu, argues that mobile specialists understand the mobile market as well as, if not better than, companies whose background is on the web

The last ten years have been Google’s decade. The company has revolutionised Internet search and pushed the boundaries of innovation in every area that it operates in, even getting its name in the Oxford English dictionary. Google’s dominance of online advertising is undisputed, but is the king of the PC screen also going to dominate the mobile screen?
Naturally, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt thinks so. In June 2008 he revealed his wider ambition; to change the world and set a clear focus on mobile for the next three years. Speaking on CNBC in August 2008 Schmidt said: “we [Google] can make more money in mobile than we do in the desktop, eventually...”

Massive opportunity
Schmidt’s prediction about the expected explosion of mobile search and the mobile advertising market is echoed by several key analysts. Gartner predicts the mobile advertising market will reach £12 billion by 2011. Without doubt, the mobile device presents a massive opportunity that has not been seen since the birth of the Internet itself.
Google is such a powerful brand, that when it comes to talking about its vision and market predictions, people often get carried away, and some interpret this to mean that Google’s success on the desktop will be mirrored on the mobile. At this pivotal moment in the development of the mobile web, perhaps we should resist the temptation to assume history will repeat itself on mobile.
Take mobile social networks for instance. Yes, we’re seeing significant usage on mobile of the desktop social networks like Facebook and MySpace, but we’re also seeing the pure-play mobile social networks like Itsmy, MocoSpace and Peperonity taking significant share. According to the ‘Q1 Mobile Report’ published in May 2008 by Opera, MocoSpace is number 3 in the US, with Facebook sitting at number 5.

Striking differences
When it comes to search, the desktop and mobile share some common issues, but also have some striking differences. As on the desktop, the sheer volume of sites available on the mobile web is overwhelming, and unsurprisingly, we’re seeing search establish itself as the navigation interface of choice. Unlike the desktop, however, the mobile is awash with different screen sizes, codecs and protocols. This lack of standardisation means that a ‘one size fits all approach’ to search is unlikely to work.
On the desktop, the job of a search engine is fairly simple, as pretty much all websites can be viewed by most computers accessing them. But on the mobile, things are different. The user experience depends on the specific device and network being used. The key is to optimise for hundreds of different devices and prioritise search results according to mobile friendliness, thereby ensuring that users can find what they want, quickly and easily.
When it comes to marketing on mobile, search is, and is likely to remain, a powerful and significant channel for brands to reach their target audiences in a relevant and efficient away. We’re already seeing some evolution in the conventional desktop PPC (pay per click) advertising model as it migrates to mobile. For example, click-to-call and click-to-locate. 

Other opportunities
There are also other opportunities available. For instance, your mobile is with you all the time and is usually the first port of call when you’re trying to fill some time – just watch kids on a bus journey home from school. In this mode, users are very receptive to advertising, providing it’s targeted and relevant, and this presents a new opportunity.
It’s all very well to offer standard formats, but it is also important to focus on evolving new formats, and ways for brands to engage with mobile users. The mobile is the most personal, pervasive mass-market consumer device ever seen, and there is definitely further scope for developing new mobile advertising solutions.
So if you’re thinking about advertising on the mobile, then consider some of the pure-play mobile services and mobile search providers on the market. You might be surprised by what they have to offer.

A New Era Dawns

We know some of you will be missing your daily fix of mobile marketing news, even at this time of year, so here to keep you going are some predictions for 2009 from Paran Johar, Chief Marketing Officer at JumpTap, who predicts that 2009 will be the year of mobile search and advertising

Wasn’t 2004, or 2006 or was that 2008 the year mobile advertising arrived? If there is one thing I know for sure, it’s that trying to predict what year, month, day, or hour will be the shining moment of mobile search and advertising is as useless as guessing when my stock portfolio will rebound. No one knows for sure. The key is not in predicting a specific moment in time that will be a tipping point for the medium; it’s about defining the key milestones we need to achieve to acknowledge enough significant growth that says that mobile search and advertising is already here, and a force to be reckoned with. And yes, I did say “growth”. I know what you’re thinking:  “Growth in 2009, in this economy?” I must be drinking too much eggnog. But smart marketers won’t stop marketing in a down economy; they will just hold their agencies more accountable. They will seek higher responses rates from campaigns and better returns on their marketing spend. And this is where mobile shines.  But before we get into 2009, let’s review 2008 and some of the key achievements that set us up for 2009.

1. The launch of mobile @plan – this was a relatively quiet announcement, but instrumental in getting more digital media planners the tools necessary to plan and buy mobile advertising.

2. MMA establishes creative standards – not having to redo creative in multiple formats is key for marketers and agencies if they are going to test a new medium. A client is more likely to test mobile if they know they don’t have to spend 50% of their non-working dollars resizing existing creative to appease different carriers and publishers.

3. Publicis, IPG, Omnicom, and WPP all launched mobile divisions or agencies under their umbrella. The fact that these holding companies are putting their money where their mouth is and investing in PhoneValley, Ansible, iPsch, and Kinetic is a clear statement that they take mobile seriously.

4. Former Vodaphone CEO Arun Sarin’s warning at MWC in Barcelona that the operators must not allow themselves to become bitpipes and let somebody else do the services work. As more and more operators realize the potential for mobile search and advertising, they are realizing that  partnering with a Google, Yahoo! or Microsoft isn’t in their long term interest. Carriers are starting to understand the need to reinvent themselves as ‘media centric’ organizations and partner with partners that enable them (like JumpTap, my one plug) to help them with this evolution. Whoever has access to the rich customer data created from keywords, search history and other sources, like location and demographic data, will create a strong foot hold in the mobile advertising ecosystem. 

Here are my bets for 2009.

1. As we fix the front end of the media planning process, we also need to address the back end side of metrics and measurement. We will see almost all the mobile ad networks/providers integrated into Internet third-party tracking tools such as Doubleclick and Atlas. It will be a mobile media plan must-have in order for publishers to participate.

2. Efficiency in planning and buying will be a dominant theme. Self-service mobile ad systems that are fully integrated, and the process to test, buy, and optimize more easily will become more pervasive. Combined keyword search and display networks will showcase how you can leverage each other for greater targeting and relevancy.

3. We’ll see a higher level of creative standards as we see more and more “semi- rich” media ad units being tested in the market. In 2008 Internet rich media provider Pointroll was one of the first to release its expanding ad unit on the iPhone. I’m guessing we are going to see many of the Internet players expand their product lines into the mobile Internet. These rich media units will be critical, as creative agencies begin to concept more and more integrated ideas with mobile at the centre.

4. Agency talent will continue to enter into the mobile ecosystem. As more and more ad/media/digital agency talent realizes the power of mobile to connect brands to the audiences they are trying to reach, they will share best practices and work closely with technology companies to deliver on what advertisers and brands are looking for. They will speed education to all parties involved. Agencies will also to continue to expand their mobile offerings. In an effort to diversify their revenue and create unique points of differentiation, more and more agencies will move spend into mobile and showcase their results. 

5. Targeting technology will be critical as advertisers/agencies realize that relevance is the key to success in mobile advertising. Because of the uncluttered environment and personal nature of mobile, consumers will ignore generic advertising and engage only with mobile ads that are relevant to their interests. Targeting technology that integrates information from multiple sources, including carrier data, as well as search, behaviour, and contextual information will be instrumental in developing audience and monetizing audience channels. This is the winning proposition, as the user has a great mobile experience, the advertiser reaches a more targeted audience, and the publisher receives a higher CPM.

6. Wireless carriers will work together and step up to create a sustainable role in mobile advertising. They will make innovative moves to reinvent themselves as media-centric organizations and partner with likeminded vendors whose interests are aligned with their own to help them with this evolution.

7. Mobile search will take centre stage. As Internet search evolved to all-encompassing desktop search tools, so will mobile search evolve. The mobile user experience becomes more fluid and integrated between hardware, software and mobile applications, and search will evolve into a ubiquitous format, to a ‘phone-top search”. This will further blur the line between on-deck/off-deck, mobile content and applications. The beauty of this will be the development of infinitely more creative ways to not only target, but also to engage with users at the appropriate time and place. Operators worldwide are recognizing this phenomenon and are looking for partners who can integrate both the search and advertising experience to help them enhance the user experience and monetize the assets.

8. We will see the ‘Walmart Effect’ on mobile advertising, as the giant retailer seeks to bring affordable Smartphones to the masses, so will follow a cultural shift towards mass usage of the mobile Internet.

9. Direct response advertisers will learn the ease of click-to-call. Some marketers will begin to try and abuse it. The industry will begin to self regulate to avoid outside intervention.

2009 will certainly be challenging, but new companies and profits are always born in down economies. Those who focus on quality and giving consumers what they want will thrive, while  those who simply focus on mediocrity and money will not. We are at the dawn of a new era, and mobile is driving this transformative cultural change that will forever change marketing as we know it. Those who join in early will thrive and prosper.

ZooVision Selects Taptu

ZooVision, the US-based, free streaming mobile video portal, has replaced its existing mobile search provider with the award-winning, social search engine Taptu. According to Taptu, it has been chosen by ZooVision to enhance its offering by providing a first class search experience and “super fast” search results.
The partnership enables ZooVision viewers to have the best possible mobile experience when searching for media such as music videos, cartoons, video podcasts and audio podcasts and for streaming live video direct to a mobile phone, within the Zoovision portal. Taptu finds the relevant and mobile friendly content in rapid time, which encourages users to return and trust in the ZooVision brand. 
“This is an exciting time for Taptu,” says Taptu CEO, Steve Ives. “This is our second partnership announcement in the last six weeks. It's great to see more and more publishers are recognising the value of social search. They see how the proposition delivers a great user experience, which naturally cultivates loyal users.”
Sean Berner, Vice President of ZooVision adds:
“Taptu understands what’s popular amongst ZooVision users and is purely designed for mobile. This puts it in a perfect position to offer relevant results, fast. Our existing provider didn’t offer this kind of innovative approach, so we have replaced them with Taptu.”
Taptu is available direct to consumers at taptu.com and to mobile publishers, portals and social networks via a suite of customizable search engine APIs. Partners can leverage the power of Taptu’s fast mobile search engine to enable their users to search on-portal content or the broader mobile web. And as the mobile advertising market develops, Taptu is assisting its partners in readying themselves to earn revenues from mobile search via sponsored links advertising.
Taptu is available by visiting http://taptu.com on any Internet-enabled mobile phone with a standard mobile browser,with no download required, and is accessible worldwide in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German.

Voice of Reason

Duncan Parry, co-founder of search-inspired communications agency Steak, considers the implications of Yahoo! and Google's launches of voice-enabled mobile search services

Only last year, Google and Yahoo released voice-recognition 411 services, which enabled phone users in the US to get free directory results for local services. Now, both engines have integrated the same technology into applications for mobile phones.  Google’s voice search application is available on the iPhone, while selected BlackBerry and Nokia phone users in the UK can now take advantage of voice-activated oneSearch from Yahoo!   
Both applications allow users to say their mobile internet search - “Thai restaurant” for example - instead of struggling with the keypad on their phone. Clearly, voice-enabled applications have their limitations - “Thai restaurant” becomes “fine restaurant” and “Covent Garden” returns “handguns” - but when they work and a location is found, relevant results include a mix of web, local and map information.   Ideal for finding a number for the restaurant you’re heading to and details on where it is.

Value-add experience
Although both the technology and Internet speeds of today’s mobile devices are on a par with desktop PCs of a few years ago, the success of any mobile application will be based on whether it provides a value-add experience for the person using it. Whilst both Google and Yahoo! are relying on the same set of search results that would be served up for PC users, the mobile Internet experience is dramatically different, both in terms of the possibilities it affords and the way consumers are embracing it. 
What mobile handsets lack because of their small screen sizes and minimal keypads, they make up for in GPS-enabled localisation, the increasingly high speed of mobile Internet access, and push data access. This is especially true for the iPhone, which has heavy mobile Internet usage – 80% of all iPhone users compared to just 32% of Smartphone owners –which has generated enormous revenue for Apple from downloadable applications.
These two trends alone show that there are many opportunities for brands to get involved in mobile, which has long been touted as the next big thing for advertisers.  Google’s Android platform supports an applications store similar to the Apple AppStore and both companies have made it easy for anyone to create innovative applications to extend their brand, generate income and make the most of existing userbases.   

Different requirements
By making voice-enabled, consumer-focused mobile applications available, Google and Yahoo! are acknowledging that the mobile platform has fundamentally different usability requirements to the traditional, static computer. Brands should recognise these differences too. Mobile strategies need to be carefully considered to take into account, not only the different attributes of the mobile platform, but also, the ways in which it is being used. Squeezing a normal website onto a mobile site just doesn’t cut it anymore; they need to delivered in WAP format and in a way that optimises all forms of mobile marketing.
Let’s tip our hats to Apple here too: the iPhone, just like the iPod before it, has pushed manufacturers and advertisers to up their game by providing consumers with a must-have, easy-to-use product that provides value-add experiences. Even with a higher percentage of iPhone owners accessing the Internet, adoption of voice-enabled search will be slow. For the moment, Google and Yahoo!’s applications will only appeal to early adopters, but they are a wake-up call for brands to get their mobile marketing ducks in a row.

Google Set For Mobile Success

Google's move into mobile will deliver major growth over the next five years. That’s the conclusion of a report just published by Screen Digest, ‘Why Google has to expand into mobile, and why it will succeed’. The analyst believes a push towards mobile is a crucial for the company, especially in the current economic climate.
Although a strong brand for any Internet user worldwide, Google is still very much tied to traditional Internet connections, the report notes, adding that as mobile becomes a standalone primary connected device for many consumers, Google is perfectly placed to establish itself as a mobile player in its own right.
Initially, says Screen Digest, mobile advertising's value will lie in Google's ability to target ads, rather than the revenue that will be generated. Local search will be key to market growth: innovations in mobile search and advertising will allow for improved local search, directly competing with 'Yellow Pages' type proximity marketing services. The challenge for Google in  established markets is to encourage consumers to start performing functions on their mobile browser that they would previously have carried out on their PC.
There is also a huge opportunity for mobile advertising and mobile search in emerging markets, where more people have mobile phones than PCs; for instance, Screen Digest forecasts that the cumulative mobile ownership in India and China will outstrip the PC by seven to one by 2012,  with 1.3 billion mobile subscriptions, compared to only 185 million online households.
On the upside, Google's mobile operating system Android won't have to achieve a market-leading position to reach Google's primary objective: an open mobile Internet allowing for a successful roll-out of its search and advertising services. Accordingly, Screen Digest forecasts that Android OS will take 3% of the global Smartphone market in 2009, with 8 million handsets shipped.
“The mobile OS market is going to play an important role in the next two years,” says Screen Digest Analyst and report author, Julien Theys. “We also believe Microsoft will compete more aggressively in mobile by acquiring other mobile specialists or even launching their own consumer-focused handset. Google still considers Microsoft and Yahoo! as its primary competition in search and advertising; so far, both have failed in their efforts to secure a stranglehold in mobile search and advertising, leaving for the path clear for Google.”
The report costs £500. For information on how to order, send an email to rob.morrod@screendigest.com

Ad and Search Firms Team Up for metaTXT Drive

10 mobile companies have formed a working group to drive the metaTXT standard. metaTXT is described as the world's first mobile search engine optimisation (SEO) standard, powered from the Waterford Institute of Technologies research division in Ireland. It will enable search engines to index mobile sites at ease, regardless of their technology domains, whether they are m.name.com, wap.name.com, name.com/mobile or a .mobi domain.
The metaTXT standard enables all mobile sites to be discovered, regardless of URL, giving brands better and more consistent mobile Internet awareness. The group has a strong Asian presence, working with Asian search engine MCN-inc to leverage its mobile capabilities to its 15 million users. 
The mobile advertising providers and search engines involved are Abphone, Bango, JumpTap, Taptu, MCN, Medio Systems, Mobilytics, Nubiq, RingRing Media and founder, Visibility Mobile. Already, 1,000  mobile sites are using metaTXT, and when the standard is deployed by the working group, the reach will be close to 200 million.
“There remains some hesitation in the market about one web and the mobile Internet,” says Mícheál Ó Foghlú, Chairman of the metaTXT working group. “We are carving out ways where we can all work together to achieve excellence for the mobile web, driven by an open standard.”
metaTXT is a free standard, available to anyone. The simple, step-by-step tool for the service is available here. 
“Mobile websites are currently not being effectively interrogated by conventional search engines,” says  Visibility Mobile CEO, Paul Savage. "This is leaving brands incredibly frustrated and is restricting the vast range of commercial opportunities that both mobile advertising and the mobile web as a whole can deliver.” 
Gartner predicts that mobile search will be worth USD 12 million by 2013. There's more information about metaTXT here.

Yahoo! Launches oneSearch with voice in the UK

Yahoo! has announced the availability of Yahoo! oneSearch with voice to consumers in the UK, allowing mobile users to initiate searches using their voice. With Yahoo! oneSearch with voice, consumers can search for anything simply by speaking.
Yahoo! gives an example of a search on ‘Arsenal’, which it says will return a rich set of results highlighting the latest results and schedules, breaking news, team profiles, images, and web links. Yahoo! notes also, in case you hadn’t realised, that voice- enabled mobile search enables users to conduct searches more quickly than entering text.
The company adds that, with continued usage, Yahoo! oneSearch with voice will adapt to the user's intonations and accent, providing increasingly fine-tuned results as the product is used. When using the application, users can switch between speaking and typing at any time, if they wish to refine a search query.
“Yahoo! oneSearch offers mobile consumers a compelling search experience, delivering answers and relevant results tailored to the unique attributes of the mobile experience,” says Mitch Lazar, managing director of Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe “With today’s launch of Yahoo! oneSearch with voice, we are delivering the next generation of mobile search technology, making it easier and quicker for users to discover, initiate and input search queries.”
Yahoo! oneSearch with voice is available from today and can be downloaded for free from http://uk.m.yahoo.com on compatible mobile devices. The solution is available through a downloadable application for select Blackberry devices including the 8800 series, the Curve and the Pearl. It is integrated into a Yahoo! oneSearch shortcut for Nokia devices. Once installed on a Nokia Series 60 device, it only takes one click on the phone’s screen to initiate a search. The product also includes Search Assist, enabling spelling suggestions and real-time related concepts for more refined search results.  Yahoo! oneSearch with voice has also been integrated into Yahoo! Go 3.0, Yahoo!’s all-in-one mobile offering.
Over the coming months, Yahoo! says that oneSearch with voice is expected to support additional devices, languages and become available in additional countries.
There’s more information here, or on your mobile at: http://uk.m.yahoo.com

Jeanie Rolls Out Branded Mobile Search Offering

Start-up Jeanie Media has launched a branded mobile search service in partnership with Itchy City, the youth-orientated publisher of local city guides.
Jeanie offers consumer and media brands the opportunity to create a customised mobile search channel that provides listings that are relevant to the brand’s target audience. For example, a version of Jeanie tailored for a men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine would only provide listings that readers of that magazine would be interested in, such as nightclubs, bars, men’s grooming etc). Itchy City is the first brand partner to sign up for Jeanie’s white-label mobile service.
Jeanie uses location-based services to provide users with personalised advice on what’s open and available close to them, with one click. The content is selected from a host of the UK’s best-known and well-respected listings publishers – such as Itchy City, Square Meal, The Press Association and The AA. In addition to listings, the service, dubbed ‘Itchy Mobile – Driven by Jeanie’, also provides editorial reviews, as well as a route planner and current distance from the venue, allowing users to make the most informed decision as quickly as possible. The application requires no text input, and lets users select from seven top-level categories, including ‘Eat’, ‘Music’, ‘Entertainment’ and ‘Travel’. Each search query costs £1, not including data charges.
The service is launching across 16 of the UK’s leading university cities – including London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester and Oxford. Itchy City will promote the service to its monthly audience of 5.5 million readers across its range of media channels, including print, outdoor and online.
The application is easily downloadable to any handset launched in the last four years, by texting the keyword ITCHY to the shortcode 66996. Users can also distribute the application virally using the ‘Tell-a-friend’ function.
“We wanted to create a mobile search application that put consumers first,” says Jeanie Co-founder and Managing Director, Alexander Fairfax. “Less is more on mobile; we have built a service that provides only the most relevant information, delivered super fast at the touch of one button. It’s a case of scroll, click, and let Jeanie read your mind.”
Zee Ahmad, digital development manager for the Itchy Group, adds, “We’re constantly looking at ways in which we can improve how our audience can access our content. This is a fantastic opportunity to leverage our editorial excellence with the immediacy of mobile. Our audience wants the best out of city living and we are delighted to offer them the chance to access this information via Jeanie’s unique mobile platform.”

Taptu Wins itsmy.com Search Brief

Global mobile community itsmy.com has chosen Taptu, an award-winning, pureplay search engine designed specifically for mobile, to provide its growing community with a search service, and access to an index of mobile-friendly web content.
The move will see itsmy.com’s mobile community of over two million users gain instant access to a variety of content via Taptu. Taptu’s strength is entertainment search; helping users find and enjoy mobile content such as videos, music and images.
Taptu aims to find the best of the web for mobile phones; serving content to mobile devices that can be easily shared among friends. itsmy.com has chosen to add Taptu’s search functionality to give its users a rich mobile search experience; they can now search for mobile Internet content from within their community and also directly from their personal mobile homepage.
In addition to core search functionality, Taptu can now offer mobile partners, like itsmy.com, mobile search sponsored links. This provides partners with a new incremental revenue stream, and gives advertisers access to high-value and young audiences
“As a pureplay mobile community (we) wanted to work with a company that really ‘gets’ mobile and understands that desktop search isn’t mobile search,” says itsmy.com CEO, Antonio Vince Staybl. “Taptu is made for mobile and we love its unique and social way to search the mobile web. That’s exactly what we were looking for in a partner and that’s why we have replaced our existing provider.”

Upwardly mobilePeople

Local mobile search company mobilePeople has secured $8 million ($4.6 million) investment from Nordic based venture capitalist firm Via Venture Partners. The funding will enable mobilePeople to expand its international reach. Via Venture Partners is a multi stage venture fund investing in exceptional companies in the Nordic region. The company invests in internet, communication software and ICT growth companies.
“Via Venture Partners only invests in the best of breed technology and companies and mobilePeople is a case in point,” says Via Ventures Senior Partner, Peter Thorlund Haahr. “Mobile People has consistently proved that mobile local search and advertising is a fantastic monetisation opportunity and that dedication to customers pays dividends in the long run.”

C905 To Come With NearMe Preloaded

Sony Ericsson has revealed that its 8.1-megapixel Cyber-shot C905 handset will come preloaded with Mobile Commerce's ‘NearMe’ application. NearMe will also be available to download onto the GPS enabled C702 Cyber-shot and W760 Walkman handsets.            
NearMe is a local search service that provides users with detailed information on local businesses, amenities, venues and events, all based on current location using the GPS capabilities of the user’s handset.
The application, which is provided free to the user by Sony Ericsson, includes UK-wide content such as cinema, club and gig listings; over 11,000 recommended venues for eating and drinking; as well as over 1.9 million business search listings and fully optimised Multimap mapping - all of which is enhanced on an ongoing basis so the information is always up to the minute. Full addresses and phone numbers are included with each recommendation and listing. 
Users can select locations from pre-stored favourites or search for any location in the UK. Basic information provided includes, name, address and phone number and, where relevant, more detailed information such as film reviews, costs and show times. Finally, once you know where you want to go, there’s a map to show you where it is.
“Creating a Java application with best-of-breed content was a key objective to showcase our GPS handsets to our prime target market,” says David Hilton, Head of Marketing for Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland. “Following an extensive market search, we selected Mobile Commerce as our application partner, and we are delighted with the ‘NearMe’ application. (We) have already defined a roadmap of enhancements to bring even more functionality and choice to our customers.”

mjelly Puts Mobile Sites on a Plate

mjelly, a London-based mobile Internet start-up, has launched a search and discovery directory service for “mobile 2.0” sites and downloadable applications at www.mjelly.com on the PC and m.mjelly.com on mobile.
The mjelly directory lists sites that are specially formatted for mobile. Mobile-optimized sites on mjelly include those from mobile 2.0 startups like Mippin, the mobile versions of major web players such as Facebook, and those created by media companies such as the BBC. Mjelly says it  is also working with mobile marketing agencies and brands to help promote and distribute branded mobile sites and applications. 
In addition to listings of mobile web sites, mjelly provides a free applications download service for mobile software, similar to the iPhone app store, but available for a wider range of phones from other manufacturers, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. mjelly currently supports all of the major mobile software platforms, including Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile and says it will list applications running on the new Google Android operating system when they become available.
mjelly uses a number of approaches to make it easy to find and discover mobile sites and software. Users can rate and comment on sites and applications and build a profile of their favourites to make them easy to find again. All the sites and applications in the directory are tagged into different categories and users can use social filters such as ‘Popularity’ and ‘Comments’ to sort through them.
“The publicity around the iPhone Appstore would make you think that Apple invented the idea of downloadable applications for the mobile phone, but this simply isn't true,” says mjelly Founder James Coops. “There's arguably a better range of software and applications for other types of phones, but the problem is that it can be hard to find them. mjelly changes this by putting all the good apps in one place.”

Taptu Takes Mobile Search Award

Taptu has picked up the top award for Overall mobile search company of the year at the Mobile Search Awards 2008, organized by Visiongain. Co-founder Bob Last said he was delighted at the outcome.
“We were competing against some of the biggest players in the industry and the fact the judges commented on Taptu's faster engine and its great user experience was fantastic,” said Last. “It's an honour to be recognised by the judges and we are also very grateful to our user community who continue to spread the word about Taptu.com to their friends.”
The full list of winners and runners-up is as follows:

Best entertainment or information service:
Gold - IMImobile
Silver - Clickatell
Bronze - Thumbplay

Search engine optimization award:
Gold - Guava
Silver - Puretech Internet
Bronze - Red Clay Interactive

Best advertising or marketing service:
Gold - mcn
Silver - JumpTap
Bronze - Kooaba

Best technology innovation – software:
Gold - Kannuu
Silver - io global
Bronze - Alabot

Best multimodal search service:
Gold - Novauris
Silver - call genie
Bronze - V-Enable

Most innovative business model:
Gold - Mobily
Silver - askmoby.com
Bronze - Admob

Best location-based search service:
Gold -Yell
Silver - Telmap
Bronze - Oxynade

Best content discovery experience on device:
Gold - Gracenote
Silver - Kiboo S A for Moblr
Bronze - Veveo

Mobile Search On the Up, Says comScore

comScore, which specialises in measuring the digital world, has revealed mobile search is gaining in both popularity and frequency of use in the US and Western Europe.
comScore M:Metrics reports that in June 2008, 20.8  million US mobile subscribers and 4.5 million European mobile phone subscribers accessed search during the month, an increase of 68 and 38% from June 2007, respectively. The UK had the highest penetration of mobile subscribers using search at 9.5%, followed closely by the US at 9.2%.
“It is interesting to note that as we see the number of mobile search users increase, the frequency of activity is also growing,” says comScore Analyst, Alistair Hill. “The number of people accessing mobile search at least once a week grew 50% in Europe, with France and Spain leading at a rate of 69 and 63%, respectively. Meanwhile, the number of US users accessing mobile search has more than doubled as a result of expanded 3G penetration and Smartphone adoption, as well as the proliferation of flat-rate data plans. We have also seen a substantial improvement to the mobile search offerings in the US market.” 
Google is the preferred brand for browser-based searches with a 60% share of mobile searchers in all countries measured by comScore M:Metrics. Yahoo! ranks second in Germany, Italy, UK and the US. In the US Yahoo’s  mobile searcher penetration is 34.6%, more than double its share in most other countries

Medio in AdMob Tie-up

Mobile search company Medio Systems has announced a partnership with mobile ad network AdMob. As part of the agreement, AdMob will deliver targeted mobile search ads to consumers, using Medio's analytics-driven mobile search service. Medio says it is partnering with AdMob to ensure consumers see high quality ads, and to make it easier for advertisers to reach consumers on their mobile phones.
“AdMob's unmatched quality advertising traffic means we can present the industry's most targeted and relevant ads to both our operator partners and publisher network, while enabling AdMob's advertisers to reach consumers in that 'last mile' with analytics-driven, targeted search ads,” says Medio CEO, Brian Lent.

MMA Launches Mobile Search Whitepaper

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the publication of its latest educational resource; a Whitepaper on mobile search. Developed by the MMA’s Mobile Search Task Force, the paper provides an overview of search on the mobile Internet, outlining how it differs from traditional web-based search, how it meets the needs of consumers, and the opportunity it provides to operators and marketers. It also discusses mobile search challenges, strategies and business models, incorporating case studies from JumpTap and Medio Systems.
The MMA Mobile Search Task Force, chaired by AOL LLC and JumpTap, came together to develop common business models, operating procedures and technology interfaces that enable operators to offer an integrated, carrier-branded mobile search experience to their subscribers, as well as help brands and content providers to monetize their opportunities in the mobile ecosystem. The Whitepaper, available to download here, was developed in collaboration with representatives from several MMA member companies.
It is just one of the MMA’s extensive library of information and resources available for use, from basics such as the ‘Mobile Marketing Industry Overview’ and the more advanced ‘MMA International Journal of Mobile Marketing’. The MMA also publishes guidelines on the Code of Conduct, Consumer Best Practices and Mobile Advertising, the latter due for re-release in October this year following a period of public comment. All resources are available for download here.

mobilePeople Powers New Zealand Search Solution

New Zealand directory business Yellow Pages Group has launched its local mobile search product, ‘Yellow mobile’, which is based on mobilePeople's 'liquid LOCAL' solution. The service will enable New Zealand users to access a wealth of local information on their mobile phones, via their browser and/or two-way SMS.
The browser based solution allows search by business name, category or keyword and location. Users can view the results in a list, and also get maps and directions. In addition, the service also includes a text function, enabling users to text to search a business name, category or keyword and location. The text response includes one result and a deep link to the WAP solution for further results. There’s also a click-to-call function for immediate connection. Yellow mobile is accessible via both mobile network operator portals in New Zealand and so has 100 per cent reach across both islands.
“mobilePeople are best of breed suppliers,” says Yellow Pages Group Digital Media Director Blair Glubb. “We are very happy with what Yellow mobile will enable Kiwis to achieve on the move.”

Search On Tap

I’m fresh out of a meeting with Taptu CEO, Steve Ives, in which he gave me the low down on the company’s mobile search engine. Taptu is a consumer site which aims eventually to be a universal mobile search engine, but which is concentrating initially on the music and entertainment sectors, on the basis that in the US at least, 60% of operator portal searches are for music and entertainment content. Taptu works on any network and on any phone with a browser, though inevitably, there is a custom interface for the iPhone.
Ives invited me to load up the Taptu site on my Nokia E61 and search for a band I liked. I chose Interpol, partly because I like them, partly to see how many music results returned were for the band, and how many for the international police force. Though the top result was for the cops, the rest on the first page were all for the New York band. What was also impressive was the way that some of the results returned were music or video clips that you could play on the handset. 
Taptu launched just a few weeks ago, after building the number of searches per month to over a million in the pre-launch period, almost all through word of mouth and a limited amount of viral activity. Ives told me the company is aiming for 15 million searches per month by “later this year”. The biggest markets for Taptu are currently the US and the UK, followed by France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Together, these developed countries account for 50% of the site’s traffic, with the balance coming from the developing world.
While results are currently all organic, a paid search model will launch in the next couple of weeks. Taptu is working with three paid search providers, including AdMob. Ives says that in tests, the company is seeing an ECPM (Equivalent CPM) of $6 (£3.20) nett, after paying the platform provider. (This figure is arrived at by multiplying the average clickthrough rate by the revenue per click.)
I’m always interested to hear how companies get their names. Ives told me that Taptu came from a 5-letter dotcom name-generating program on a PC. The fact that Ives was happy to reveal this was no surprise. A product of the Cambridge tech crowd who has already made one fortune selling his previous company Trigenix to Qualcomm for $36 million (£19 million), Ives is a quietly-spoken, unassuming character who, along with his backroom team, have created a very neat search solution. I’ll be interested to hear whether the viral effect the company has enjoyed to date is sufficient to see it hit those search targets.

David Murphy
Editor

Starting from Scratch

Simon Norris, Co-founder of paid search specialist Periscopix, looks at the potential, and the challenges, for paid search advertising on mobile

The last couple of years have seen a lot of speculation on the opportunity that is the mobile Internet. Carriers, mobile content providers and handset companies have all been working like crazy recently to position themselves as the organisation that can offer the ultimate mobile Internet solution. 
The latest much-debated topic around the mobile Internet is whether mobile advertising will ever take off. Analyst Juniper Research seems to think it will. In a report out this month, it estimated that total annual advertising spend on mobile services will exceed $1 billion (£500 million) for the first time during 2008, rising to $7.6 billion (£3.8 billion) by 2013. Part of the reason for this growth, they believe, is the availability of higher speed networks and new generation handsets such as the Apple iPhone.

Recouping investment
Ever since the introduction of 3G services in 2003, mobile operators have been looking for a way to recoup their network investments. Could mobile advertising be the vehicle that will allow them to do this?
A recent survey by Ofcom stated that only 44% of mobile users were actually aware that they could access the Internet on their mobile phone, which might suggest that the opportunity may not be as close as we think. Vodafone recently estimated that 27% of its customer base regularly used their mobile for browsing, collecting emails, or instant messaging, and it predicted this figure will reach at least 50% by 2010. But there may be more than a little confusion in what the opportunity may or may not be, so before brands start lining up to promote their services via mobile, it’s important to be realistic about the potential of these new platforms. 

Broadly speaking, online advertising falls into two main categories:
·    Search-driven advertising, in which highly targeted ads are presented to a user in response to them entering a search query.

·    ‘Display’ advertising which appears alongside other content. Targeting of ads may be indiscriminate, contextual (in which the ad is selected based on the content of the page in which it appears) or behavioural (whereby the ad is selected based on inferences made from that user’s historical behaviour), or a combination of these.

In the home or business environment, a key element in the success of search advertising is that it can be presented in a fairly unobtrusive way alongside the ‘natural’ search results. However the current small screen size of most devices make it extremely difficult to do this effectively in the mobile environment. And it looks like it may be some time before personal Internet devices really will be in the mainstream, offering larger screens, better broadband connectivity and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) integration.
Display advertising is therefore likely to provide a bigger growth opportunity than Search. Inserting this ‘in line’ - so that most or all of the screen is occupied by the ad for a short period prior to (for example) a web page being displayed or a call being connected - is one possible route. However, we have become accustomed to having ad-free services, and most users would consider this style of presentation to be highly intrusive. We’d need to offer some significant incentives to people for this to be acceptable.

What’s the conclusion?
Many lessons have been learned over the last five years from the ‘big screen’ home/office environment in how to incorporate ads into websites in a way that is acceptable for users. But none of these principles can be applied to the ‘small screen’ world of mobile. We are starting again from scratch, and this time, the challenges are much greater. Mobile ads are going to be a lot more intrusive, and if there is going to be significant growth in this area then some compelling incentives are going to need to be offered to the mobile user if they are to be tolerated or embraced.

MCN Handed Nokia Widsets Search Task

Mobile Content Networks (MCN), which provides real-time Federated mobile search solutions, has revealed that Nokia's WidSets service has selected its white label platform, MobileSearch.net, to power WidSets Search for its millions of mobile users.
Nokia WidSets is a mobile content consumption, creation, and sharing service currently available in 56 languages and featuring more than 5,000 widgets that have been downloaded by more than 7 million mobile users. WidSets are device-agnostic and are optimized for mobile consumption and sharing. WidSets is also part of the Nokia Media Network, a premium advertising network comprised of more than 100 leading mobile publishers.
WidSets Search will allow users to effectively 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.
WidSets Search is designed to make it easier for people to take their favourite Internet content with them anywhere. With more than 5,000 widgets now available in the content library, and a universe of mobile content and information waiting for mobile users, finding that content most efficiently is a fundamental issue. MCN says that WidSets Search is a major step forward in mobile content and information discovery.
“Nokia is known for setting the pace for innovation around the mobile user experience, and we are delighted to be part of the global WidSets service offering,” says MCN CEO Marc Bookman. “We've dedicated ourselves to the principles of user-centric search, aimed at delivering actionable mobile content results in the fewest clicks, and are pleased that Nokia shares this philosophy with us.”

MCN Powers Text Search in Thailand

Mobile Content Networks (MCN), which provides real-time, federated mobile search solutions, has revealed that three mobile operators in Thailand - AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove - have selected MCN to launch SMS-triggered search, using a common shortcode.
Now almost 50 million mobile phone users in Thailand can text their search query to 4530111 to initiate real-time search connections to hundreds of thousands of downloadable content items in popular mobile content categories like Music, Images, and Games, and get the content they want in two or three clicks, directly from local content sources. The MCN-powered SMS Triggered Search services build on the WAP-based search applications that MCN has powered for all three operators since early 2007.
“For over a year, we’ve shown our unique ability to provide direct, real-time, high value WAP search results for each partner in Thailand under their own brand and business rules,” says MCN CEO Marc Bookman. “With SMS Triggered Search, we now dramatically expand the addressable market for transaction-focused digital content discovery, not only in Thailand, but also across dozens of other emerging and mature mobile markets.”
ABI Research recently forecast that overall SMS search queries will grow from 12.9 billion in 2008 to 76 billion in 2013.
“MCN-powered WAP search has provided a consistent, high quality, real-time mobile search experience for DTAC subscribers since March, 2007,” says Pakorn Pannachet, Senior Vice President, Value Added Services, at DTAC. “Now, with our new DTAC Content Search Services, we are excited to bring this same experience to all of our SMS users, and believe the use of the common 4530111 shortcode will dramatically accelerate mobile content discovery and sales.”

Berggi Offers Semantic Mobile Search Solution

hakia, the semantic search engine, has announced the launch of its Syndication Web Services programme for websites and businesses looking to offer semantic search to their visitors. Berggi, which provides mobile consumer applications, is hakia's first partner to offer semantic search on mobile phones.
Using hakia Syndication Web Services, Berggi has released an alpha version of an easy-to-use mobile search application for global market adoption. The application is compatible with AT&T and Sprint phones and can be downloaded here.
hakia's Syndication Web Services deliver the same core semantic technology that powers hakia's award-winning search engine, along with many other applications suitable for portals, search engine marketing firms, mobile applications and document management systems. The services provide an XML feed, and options to customize the feed. hakia offers 30,000 searches per day free of charge and free of advertising that is available to early adopters until the partners' quota is filled.
hakia Syndication Web Services include Web Search; News Search; Vertical Search; Summarizer, which provides a summary of a given text block or URL; Categorize, which identifies categorical terms from a given URL or text block; Characterizer, which identifies and expands descriptive phrases, keywords or tags; and TMR (Text Meaning Representation), which provides text meaning representation of a given text block.
“The ability to search the web from your mobile phone will soon be a key consumer need, as people do more with their cell phones on the go,” says Berggi CEO, Babur Ozden. “What drew us to hakia is the power of their semantic search results, which we believe will be central to global mass market adoption of any web search offer for mobile phones.”
More information on hakia's Syndication Web Services can be found here.

Yahoo! Makes Asia-Pac Moves

Yahoo! has announced a number of new mobile initiatives for the Asia Pacific region, including five new Yahoo! oneSearch partnerships with mobile operators in the region, including Mahanagar Telephon Nigam (MTNL) in India, Hong Kong CSL, Smart Communications and Digital Mobile Phlis, (SUN Cellular) in the Philippines, and Vibo Telecom in Taiwan. Yahoo! oneSearch will be adopted by each of the operators as the  preferred search service on their mobile Internet sites. The deals bring the number of Yahoo! oneSearch partnerships in the Asia Pacific market to 23.
Yahoo! has also announced strategic mobile advertising partnerships with Idea Cellular in India and Maxis Communications in Malaysia. The two mobile operators plan to carry a variety of graphical advertisements, sold and served by Yahoo! The company has similar mobile display advertising syndication partnerships in place with operators including AT&T, T-Mobile International and Vodafone UK.
In addition, the company has announced localized versions of Yahoo! Go 3.0 for India, Australia and Southeast Asia, including a local language version for Indonesia, and an English version of Yahoo! oneSearch with voice that recognizes regional accents. Yahoo! oneSearch with voice first launched in the US in April to make it easier to initiate mobile searches. Yahoo! says the product has demonstrated the ability to increase the number of average searches per user by over 35% across the same mobile device models after discounting for speech accuracy rates.
The service is available now for select BlackBerry devices including the 8800 series, Curve, and Pearl, and is capable of understanding, disambiguating and learning accents localized for India and Singapore, allowing consumers to search for anything by speaking into their devices.
The new voice-enabled Yahoo! oneSearch can be downloaded from http://m.yahoo.com/voice from compatible mobile devices, or to learn more about the products, consumers in the region can visit http://in.mobile.yahoo.com or http://sg.mobile.yahoo.com  on their PC. Over the coming months, says Yahoo! the product is expected to support additional devices and languages and become available in additional countries.
Finally, Yahoo! has announced the launch of new mobile widgets for the Asia Pacific region, including Yahoo! Cricket, Yahoo! Answers and Showtimes (Yahoo! India Movies), as well as an MTV Asia mobile widget featuring news updates and music charts. Yahoo! Mobile Widgets will be accessible through the new Yahoo! Go 3.0 and the Yahoo! mobile home page. (http://m.yahoo.com)
Consumers in Australia, India and Southeast Asia can download Yahoo! Go 3.0 on more than 270 mobile devices from major manufacturers worldwide and use it on most wireless networks by visiting http://m.yahoo.com on compatible devices.
Mobile widget developers can build their widgets in Blueprint, Yahoo!'s recently launched XML-based language that allows developers to write their widget once and have their widgets run across millions of devices.
Yahoo! says the announcements further demonstrate its global momentum and unveil the next phase of the company's mobile strategy for the Asia Pacific region. It notes that today's Yahoo! oneSearch partnerships announcement brings the total number of mobile search deals signed by Yahoo! worldwide in the last 18 months to over 60.
“60 signed Yahoo! oneSearch partner deals is a great milestone, putting us on our way to our goal of ultimately connecting the billions of mobile consumers around the globe with the best possible Internet experience,” says Marco Boerries, Executive Vice President, Connected Life at Yahoo! “Today's partnerships and product launches further Yahoo!'s global momentum and serve to reinforce our strong position in the mobile industry.”

JumpTap Opens Swedish Office

Mobile search and advertising solutions provider JumpTap has announced the opening of a Stockholm office. The company has also appointed Rickard Ebersjö as Director of Sales, Steve McVeyas Director of Ad Sales, Fredric Andersson as Sales Manager, Ati Serpoushan as Account Manager, and Rickard Nordberg as Senior Campaign Manager. JumpTap says the expansion comes in response to “explosive” market growth across Europe.
“Advertisers in Sweden are benefitting from lower costs and higher rates of return from their mobile advertising campaigns,” says Mike Kent, Vice President and General Manager of Europe for JumpTap. “Increasing levels of consumer recall, interaction and receptivity reinforces the validity of the mobile marketing medium and is a key indication of future growth throughout the rest of the world.”
JumpTap operates a mobile search and advertising network, and has a number of key operator partnerships across the globe. These include a partnership with TeliaSonera, which is deploying search and advertising solutions across seven different network operators in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia and Lithuania; and Telefonica, Spain, for whom JumpTap manages on-portal search and display advertising.

mobilePeople Drives Truvo Search Solution

Truvo, a local search and advertising publisher operating across six countries, has launched a downloadable Java search service for mobile users in Belgium, based on mobilePeople's ‘liquid’ platform. Truvo, formerly called World Directories, says it is the first international directory publisher to add multiple content sources in a searchable format next to its own yellow and white pages listings.
Truvo’s searchable content includes yellow pages (Pages d’Or); white pages (Pages Blanches); full news content from hln.be; weather from Meteo; a mobile web search; and  ringtones and wallpapers. The integration of different content sources will increase traffic in Truvo’s mobile portal and ensure the stickiness of the service with users, the company says.
The Truvo Mobile platform will undertake a search across all data sources and return results by each content source. Then, using a drop-down menu, the user can also select to search per source. Users can save results to their phonebooks, call a business directly and contact a company, by sending an email directly from the results. The solution is available in both French and Dutch and utilises a single search box approach.
The liquid MAP solution provides the option to display the results of businesses or people on a fully realised map, which also allows zooming and panning. Additionally, users can click on a point of interest to receive additional information in a pop-up menu. The user can then highlight an entire street and view information on it by clicking through. MobilePeople utilises Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG), considered superior to other map technologies that allow less traffic cost for the user.
“Truvo strives to provide the best and most relevant information to our users and as such we have provided them with the ability to search across a wide range of content, including yellow and white pages, news, weather, ringtones, wallpapers as well as Wikipedia,” says Roeland De Meulemeester, Group Manager Online for Truvo Corporate. “This partnership means our customers will receive an unrivalled mobile search experience.”
Last month, Truvo launched the Java client-based mobile search solution with mobilePeople in Belgium. Further country launches in Portugal and the Republic of Ireland are scheduled for the coming months.

T-Mobile Offers Zi Download

Zi Corporation, which specialises in mobile discovery and advertising solutions, has revealed that its ‘Qix’ solution will be offered as a download version to T-Mobile customers in the UK. Qix will be available on selected handsets on the T-Mobile network, with immediate effect.
Qix is a mobile discovery solution that allows users to access the mobile handset’s full range of features, both on- and off-device, simply and intuitively. Qix was initially integrated onto the N70 handset on the T-Mobile network in the UK last year. This new expansion phase will see this product made available to more T-Mobile users.
“By providing a download capability, Zi has enabled T-Mobile to provide the latest version of Qix software both to new handsets and to a larger volume of existing handsets already in use,” says Steve Buck, Head of Products for T-Mobile UK.
The downloadable version is available to T-Mobile UK subscribers with Nokia models N95, N73, 6120c and E51. Subscribers can download the software directly from T-Mobile’s Web'n'Walk HomePage.  

Searching Questions Answered

Local Search will become a key application for over 30% of mobile phone users by 2013. That’s the conclusion of a new report just published by Juniper Research. The report, ‘Mobile Search & Discovery: Opportunities & Markets, 2008-2013’, assesses the current and future potential of mobile search applications and services, forecasting mobile search and associated mobile advertising and data revenues across eight key geographical regions until 2013.
The 190-page study analyses major players in the sector, providing a qualitative detailed outlook from key executives in the industry, including strategies from market leading companies such as Google and Yahoo! In addition, the report explains the changes that are underway in the mobile search market, with the emergence of off-portal and on-device search, exploring the key drivers for the growth of mobile advertising.
The report defines five categories of mobile search; general web search; on-device search; local search; on-portal content search; and off-portal content search, with forecasts for each category, including users, number of searches, cost-per-clickthrough and total number of searches that are ad-supported. It also concentrates on how these developments, along with ad-supported revenues within mobile search, are likely to impact upon the growth of the mobile advertising sector.
The report looks at the current and future size of the mobile search market, and at the key drivers for mobile search adoption. It examines the strategies of Google and Yahoo! within the mobile environment, and considers which regions are likely to see the highest uptake of mobile search. It also looks at how much data revenue mobile operators will generate through search services, and at the impact the deployment of 3G services will have upon mobile search.
The report costs £1,490 for a single-user PDF or hardback copy; £1,990 for a multi-user licence; or £2,990 for an enterprise-wide licence.
You can get more information here.  And a free Whitepaper here.

Flirtomatic Hands Mobile Search Brief to LBi Netrank

Online and mobile flirting site Flirtomatic has appointed SEO (Search Engine Optimnisation) and online brand specialist LBi Netrank to help develop its mobile marketing strategy by ensuring the site performs well in mobile search. Flirtomatic is LBi Netrank’s first mobile search client.
LBi Netrank will initially undertake an audit of Flirtomatic’s web and WAP (wap.flirtomatic.com) sites to identify which areas of the site need to be adapted to improve its positioning within mobile search rankings and to increase the volume and quality of mobile search traffic. The majority of users are already visiting the site through their mobile devices; the audit is designed to help Flirtomatic further cement its position as the leading mobile flirting site.
Alongside the audit, LBi Netrank will offer Flirtomatic ongoing mobile search consultancy and campaign management to help the company keep up to speed with any changes to mobile standards and the search engines’ mobile strategies. 
As the mobile Internet market starts to mature, LBi Netrank believes there will be a concerted shift towards a ‘one web’ philosophy, as brands realise the need to service as many access channels as possible with one service, in order to drive cost efficiencies. Brands need to be aware of these changing standards in order to increase their reach in the digital landscape, the company says.
“We have been overwhelmed with the popularity of the Flirtomatic site on mobile, and already have over 300,000 mobile members,” says Flirtomatic CEO, Mark Cuurtis. “ Page views last month were 115m. With added mobile search effectiveness we are sure that the site will continue to grow and attract further users. LBi Netrank has demonstrated significant innovation and expertise in the ideas they have proposed. We’re looking forward to working with their team and taking our user numbers to the next level.”
Lucy Allen, Managing Director at LBi Netrank adds:
Mobile search is going to get very big in 2008 as handsets, ad targeting and people’s confidence in mobile internet grows. There are big opportunities for brands like Flirtomatic to jump in and dominate their competitive space, and we are excited to be part of that process.”

Report Examines Mobile Search Prospects

Juniper Research has released its report, ‘Mobile Search & Discovery: Opportunities & Markets, 2008-2013’ which looks at the prospects for mobile search applications and services; forecasting mobile search and associated mobile advertising and data revenues across eight key geographical regions up until 2013.
The 190-page study analyses more than 15 major players, providing a qualitative detailed outlook from key executives in the industry, including strategies from market leading companies such as Google and Yahoo! In addition, the report examines the changes that are underway in the mobile search market, with the emergence of off-portal and on-device search, exploring the key drivers for the growth of mobile advertising.
The report defines five categories of mobile search, including general web search; on-device search; local search; on-portal content search; and off-portal content search. Market development forecasts for each category include number of users, number of searches, cost-per-click-through and total number of searches that are ad-supported. It further concentrates on how these developments, along with ad-supported revenues within mobile search, are likely to impact upon the growth of the mobile advertising sector.
The report examines the current and future size of the mobile search market; the key drivers for mobile search adoption; the strategies of Google and Yahoo! within the mobile environment; the major players in mobile search; and the regions in which mobile search usage is likely to be highest.
The report costs £1,490 for a hardback copy; £1,990 for a multi-user licence; or £2,990 for an enterprise-wide licence.
You can get more details here. And a free Whitepaper here.

V-ENABLE Gets the buzzd

V-ENABLE, which offers local mobile search and directory assistance services, has announced a strategic partnership with buzzd, an emerging location-based mobile entertainment service that provides real-time information for bars, clubs events and restaurants.
The partnership will combine V-ENABLE's popular mobile local search services with content from buzzd's unique mix of user generated content (UGC), and all the best listings from CitySearch, Flavorpill and Time Out Magazine, among others.
Currently, V-ENABLE's popular Mobile411 search application is available on carriers such as MetroPCS, and Alltel. The Mobile411 app gives mobile searchers all the best in local listings, whether it's residential, category or location-based directions/map searches.
“What's so natural about this partnership is that both V-ENABLE and buzzd serve consumers on the go who are looking for something local,” says V-ENABLE Executive VP and CMO, Craig Hagopian.
Earlier this week, V-ENABLE announced the launch of its Web Services API, which the company says is the first stage of an expansion into new off-deck local search services. buzzd will be using the Web Services API in addition to specific and strategic content arrangements with V-ENABLE to allow users to benefit from the best of both services.

CTIA: Yahoo! Unveils oneSearch 2.0

Yahoo! has unveiled Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0, a new version of its mobile search service,  and previewed plans to open up mobile search results to publishers and developers across the Internet. The announcement was made by Marco Boerries, Executive Vice President of Yahoo! Connected Life, in a keynote speech at CTIA.
By enabling publishers to integrate relevant content into the Yahoo! oneSearch results, the company says, it is more likely that consumers will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for. Opening up Yahoo! oneSearch will turn web search results into answers as the usefulness of the results will increase as more actual content is returned, as opposed to traditional web links. It will also unlock the power of the semantic web, as the results integrate more helpful content. Finally, it will provide more relevant content, by providing richer information.
As an example, Yahoo! says that  whereas today’s search results for “Italian restaurants” include information such as addresses and phone numbers, open results could also include information from restaurant booking companies displaying the number of available reservations.Yahoo! says that Open search results are expected to debut with initial partners in Q2 2008.
Another new feature of oneSearch 2.0 is Search Assist. Yahoo! says that this will offer faster and easier input, reducing the time it takes to enter in your search query. This will be achieved through predictive text completion. As the user begins to type, Search Assist will surface the most common search queries in real time that match the letters submitted so far. As soon as the user sees a query that matches what they were typing, they can select it and the results are returned. For instance, a consumer searching for information about “Hillary Clinton” can just type “hil” and search assist will instantly suggest “Hillary Clinton” along with “Perez Hilton,” ”Hillary Duff” and the other most common search terms containing those letters.
Search Assist will also offer contextual recommendations. For example, as the user types in “Apple,” Search Assist may recommend links such as Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, or Apple stock price. At launch, Search Assist is available for the iPhone. Yahoo! says the facility is expected to become available on additional AJAX-compatible devices over the coming months. 
Additionally, Yahoo! is partnering with speech-recognition company vlingo to deliver a voice-enabled version of Yahoo! oneSearch, in which the search query is spoken, rather than typed. Yahoo! notes that whereas most mobile voice recognition systems are specific to vertical categories such as local listings, Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice lets consumers perform “wide open” searches, returning relevant results for practically every kind of query. The system will adapt to each user’s voice the more they use it. It will also allow multi-modal input, enabling the user to switch between speaking and typing at any time.
Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice is available now for select Blackberry devices, including the 8800 series, Curve, and Pearl, in the US. It can be downloaded from the handset at http://m.yahoo.com/voice. Yahoo! says the solution is expected to support additional devices and become available internationally during the coming months.
Finally, Yahoo! has also announced plans for an idle screen search service that makes it easier to search on your phone by integrating the search box into the main screen. The idle screen will give users one-click access to Yahoo! oneSearch and the Internet, without the need to open the phone’s browser. This idle screen solution is expected to roll out in Q2 2008.

Local News

Local Matters, a US-based media technology solutions provider, and local mobile search and advertising company mobilePeople, have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement, under the terms of which Local Matters will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of mobilePeople in exchange for a combination of cash and Local Matters stock. The combined company will provide directory publishers, media publishers and directory assistance providers with media technology solutions that connect consumers and advertisers across digital channels including the Internet, wireless and voice.
There are now more than 3 billion mobile users globally, and local search ranks among the top content categories that consumers use on their mobiles. Publishers are increasingly extending into Internet and mobile to capture users and local advertisers.
“We chose mobilePeople because we believe they have the best technology to create a mobile distribution presence for publishers,” says Local Matters CEO Perry Evans. “Its expertise, its track record and its innovation cycles set them apart from the many other companies in this space. Our aim now is to be the preferred one-stop shop for directory publishers and directory assistance providers for outsourced media technology solutions online, on wireless and on voice.”
The two companies formed a business partnership in 2006 and have several joint initiatives in progress. The closing of the transaction is subject to additional closing conditions and is currently expected to close in the second quarter of 2008.

Juniper Analyses Mobile Search Prospects

Juniper Research has released its report, ‘Search & Discovery: Opportunities & Markets, 2008-2013’.  The report assesses the current and future potential of mobile search applications and services, forecasting mobile search and associated mobile advertising and data revenues across eight key geographical regions until 2013.
The 190-page study analyses over 15 major players, providing a qualitative detailed outlook from key executives in the industry, including strategies from market-leading companies such as Google and Yahoo! In addition, the report explains the changes that are underway in the mobile search market, with the emergence of off-portal and on-device search, exploring the key drivers for the growth of mobile advertising.
The report defines five categories of mobile search, including general web search; on-device search; local search; on-portal content search; and off-portal content search. Market development forecasts are split into these five search strategies, and include users, number of searches, cost-per-clickthrough and total number of searches that are ad supported. It further concentrates on how these developments, along with ad-supported revenues within mobile search, are likely to impact upon the growth of the mobile advertising sector.
The report examined the current and future size of the mobile search market; the key drivers for mobile search adoption; the strategies being adopted by Google and Yahoo! within the mobile environment; who the major players in mobile search are; in which regions mobile search usage is likely to be highest; and how much data revenue mobile operators can expect to generate through search services.
The report costs £1,490 for a single-user PDF or hardback copy; £1,990 for a multi-user licence; or £2,990 for an enterprise-wide licence.
You can get more details here. A brochure here. And a free Whitepaper here.

mobilePeople Announces iPhone Support

Mobile search company mobilePeople has revealed that its award-winning liquid mobile search platform now supports the iPhone, extending new monetisation opportunities for directory publishers and directory assistance companies. The news follows Apple’s announcement that the majority of mobile Internet usage in the US is conducted on the iPhone and Google’s announcement that it monitors multiple searches from the iPhone, compared to other mobile handsets.
mobilePeople provides a user interface that’s optimised for the iPhone’s Safari browser to search Yellow Pages, White Pages and other content published using the liquid platform. Functionality includes a click-to-call option; the facility to get directions to a desired address; to save any business search to contacts; to send results to a friend; and to see results on a map.
The mapping experience on the iPhone Safari browser is superior to other browser-based map solutions, says mobilePeople’s since liquid allows the user to interact with the map. Raster maps, in combination with layering technology, allow for user touch interaction.
The local search experience on the iPhone is now fast and cheap. The search itself requires less data traffic, which means lower costs for the user. Thanks to JAX technology, which exchanges small packets of data with the server, it is no longer necessary to reload entire mobile pages at all times. 
“The fact that so many US mobile users are using their iPhones to surf the web is a wake-up call to directory publishers who haven’t yet got to grips with the handset’s monetisation opportunities,” says mobilePeople CEO and Co-founder, Jens Andersen. “With liquid now available on the iPhone, this is too good an opportunity to miss. The web is an integral part of the iPhone experience; mobilePeople is committed to ensuring that great local search functionality is a part of that iPhone experience.”
mobilePeople says it is also set to introduce a client-based mobile local search solution for the iPhone based on Apple’s recently-announced iPhone SDK. The company notes that its mobile search solution has the largest footprint across all handsets, platforms and operating systems. liquid is platform-agnostic and supported on Java, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, iPhone, imode, mobile carrier-specific markup languages, and Brew. In addition, liquid runs on the majority of the most popular makes of handset.

Wayfinder Launches in Chile

Wayfinder has launched its award-winning navigation services in Chile through the mobile operator, Movistar. The move marks Wayfinder’s first entry into the South American market.
“Movistar Chile is a great partner to work with now that we are entering the South American market,” says Wayfinder CEO, Magnus Nillson. “We think this is the starting point for a long and fruitful partnership, and thanks to it, Chilean users will be able to enjoy the best mobile navigation service offered.”
Movistar Chile is launching Wayfinder Navigator and its additional location services offering to its entire customer base in Chile. The Wayfinder Navigation service in Chile is based on digital maps from Dmapas.
“It’s in our strategy to offer the best available services to our customers, and for GPS-navigation services we chose Wayfinder when introducing mobile navigation,” says Movistar Products and Services Manager, José Miguel Torres. “It’s the best service in its field and Wayfinder has proven to be an excellent partner for us, not least counting Wayfinder’s long term partnership with Telefónica in Europe.” 
Wayfinder Navigator combines the best of GPS navigation with the convenience and functionality of a mobile phone. The user is guided from A to B with voice, graphical and map turn-by-turn directions. In addition to the navigation and positioning service, it features a wide range of features and extras, including traffic information, weather reports, information on selected local services and locations of particular interest, and Power Search functionality, for which a patent has been applied for.

Half-price Forum Entry for Mobile Marketing Readers

Wireless World Forum’s latest event takes place on Friday 28 January, and we have secured a half-price ticket offer for readers of Mobile Marketing Magazine who want to attend.
The event, ‘Mobile Search & Advertising Forum 2008’, takes place at the Thistle Charing Cross Hotel in London, and looks at the future prospects for mobile search and mobile advertising. Speakers include Hugh Griffiths, Head of Mobile at MSN, David Thacker, Group Product Manager at Google, Andy Smith, Head of Business Development Europe at AdMob, and Xavier Perret, VP, Digital Advertising at Orange, plus many more.
The event will look at the role of search in mobile advertising’s future; innovations in mobile search; how to make money from mobile search and advertising; and how to incorporate mapping services in mobile search marketing campaigns.
The event costs £995, but until 21 January, you can attend for half price (£497.50). Just call 020 7386 3635 and quote ‘Mobile Marketing Magazine Reader Offer’ to claim your discount.

JuiceCaster Launches Mobile Video Search

Juice Wireless, which specialises in mobile social networking, has launched Mobile Video Search (MVS), which it says is the first search application for accessing user-posted videos on wireless devices. MVS forms part of Juice Wireless’s core mobile social network, JuiceCaster, which launched in December 2006, comes in free and paid-for versions. JuiceCaster has almost 60,000 users and, the company says, is growing at the rate of 20,000 users per month. 
A free service, MVS lets anyone with a video-capable mobile instantly watch desired videos on-demand by texting keywords to the shortcode 84462. The search tool then immediately sends a reply with links to the requested content. MVS works on over 95% of video-capable phones, ranging from high-end devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry, Treo and Windows Mobile devices to mass market phones such as the Motorola Razr family of handsets.
This gives individuals worldwide instant access to informative, entertaining, commercial or personal JuiceCaster videos, delivered directly to their cell phones. Business owners, college students, garage bands, travellers and aspiring artists can quickly and easily mobilize and share their content by creating a free JuiceCaster account, uploading videos and tagging them with search keywords, the company says.
“MVS is the next revolution in mobile search, combining the immediacy of wireless environments, the power of video and the value of search into one, easy-to-use solution," says Juice Wireless CEO, Nick Desai. “MVS now enables anyone, from consumers to big-brand names to share, influence, educate and make others laugh, all through tagging their mobile content with simple keywords and making it available to anyone with a video-capable mobile device to see."
In addition to enabling users to communicate with each other effortlessly, regardless of their location, MVS also forms a connector between mobile devices and social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook. Immediately after  a consumer posts a video from the phone using JuiceCaster, viewers can see the content and comments across multiple social networking sites, as well as on mobile phones powered by any wireless operator.
JuiceCaster offers a free WAP version, which is available by sending the word JOIN in an SMS to 84462. In addition, the subscription-based, downloadable BREW and Java versions of the solution are available on select local and international wireless operators.

V-ENABLE Releases Mobile Voice Search Results

Research carried out by US Mobile411 (voice search) provider V-ENABLE shows that holiday shopping directory assistance searches for retail businesses tend to be mostly for big-name retail multiples. Other popular retail searches were pharmacies, electronics stores and gaming businesses. Following retail chains, restaurants and gas stations were popular search categories. The research data offers a window into Americans’ shopping habits, particularly during the holiday shopping season.
Data was gathered between 23 November and 7 December from millions of searches conducted by customers of several V-ENABLE partners, including major national carriers such as Alltel and MetroPCS. The top five retail business searches in major metropolitan areas including Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco and Dallas were Wal-Mart, Target, Game Stop, Best Buy and Walgreens.
V-ENABLE’s intuitive mobile voice search solution brings up over 14 million business and over 140 million residential listings, as well as detailed maps, nearby points of interest, driving directions and, in early 2008, GPS integration. This information can then be saved or sent to a friend, and at any time, the user can speak to a live operator for additional assistance. While 411 is an age-old business that hasn’t seen much innovation for decades, new services like V-ENABLE’s Mobile411 create a text and voice-activated visual 411 experience that can prove invaluable to harried holiday shoppers.
“There’s an assumption that everyone knows where their local Wal-Mart is – it’s interesting to see so many searches for major chain store locations from our customers,” says Craig Hagopian, V-ENABLE Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “Holiday shopping season can be hectic and stressful. Spontaneous mobile services like V-ENABLE's make it convenient and easy to find businesses both big and small as you’re out checking off your gift lists.”
The V-ENABLE mobile voice search interface software is a client-server solution, available on a variety of platforms including BREW, JAVA, Symbian, Windows Mobile, WAP, and xHTML. V-ENABLE technology have been deployed on ALLTEL, Leap Communications (Cricket Wireless), U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless.

mobilePeople Launches liquid MAPs

mobilePeople, which specialises in local mobile search and advertising solutions for directory publishers, has announced the launch of its mobile map solution, liquid MAPs, which has been developed especially for the needs of directory publishers, directory enquiry services and media companies. The application differs from many other mobile maps currently on the market, the company says, in that it utilises Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG) embedded in a Java environment. This means that mobile interactive maps are now finally available to the mass market, as Java runs on the vast majority of handsets currently in use. It also means a faster and better defined map for the consumer, while there are enhanced opportunities for monetisation, thanks to integrated advertising, for the publisher.
mobilePeople notes that the tiled raster map solutions used by Google and Yahoo are based on data-rich map image formats, constructed on the server and downloaded to the handset, resulting in a considerable amount of data traffic. As liquid MAPs are constructed directly within the handset with only meta-information (geometric descriptions) being sent to the handset, there is 10 times less data traffic each time the map application is used. This is especially beneficial for those users who do not have a flat-rate mobile data plan.
Additionally, panning and zooming with liquid MAPs is 10 times faster than with tiled raster maps. This is due to the fact that the map information held in the phone covers a larger area than what the user actually sees on the screen. When panning or zooming, no additional information needs to be downloaded from the server.
liquid MAPs comes as a stand-alone mobile map Java application, or it can be integrated in mobilePeople’s white label liquid mobile local search solution. liquid MAPS can also integrate aerial and satellite images within its SVG technology.
Users can search results for businesses and people and can view them on a fully realised map. Other search options include address search, reverse number search, vicinity search and directions, including walking and driving routes. liquid MAPS also has enhanced user functionality. For example, a mobile user can fully interact with the maps, bringing up detailed information on screen by clicking on objects such as roads, parks or buildings. In addition, the text is scaled to fit the actual map view, so there is no blurring of names when a user zooms in to a site of interest. 
There is even the opportunity for audio ads within the application. The audio ad is displayed as a sound icon on the map. When the user scrolls over it, a jingle is played. An advertiser can be automatically highlighted with a call-out symbol on the map. When the user clicks on it they would be immediately directed to the advertiser’s mobile landing page.
"Our SVG based mobile map solution is the most innovative mobile map technology for the mass market available today," says mobilePeople CEO Jens Andersen. "The recent launch with Truvo in the Netherlands (formally World Directories) and further launches soon to be announced clearly mark a trend towards SVG maps. Google and Yahoo maps are first generation mobile maps. Other vector based map solutions are limited to Symbian phones only. The fact that we integrate our maps in a Java environment means that our offering is truly mobile mass market. It has a high user appeal and integrated local advertising products. The opportunities for monetisation for directory publishers are almost boundless."

Medio and mInfo in Chinese Tie-up

Mobile search companies Medio Systems, based in Seattle, and Shanghai-based mInfo, have jointly announced a long-term strategic partnership. Under the agreement, Medio and mInfo will work together on both technical and business levels to develop a flexible mobile search, advertising and content delivery platform for the Chinese market. The companies say the partnership will combine the technical and operational strengths of both companies to deliver unsurpassed value for Chinese operators, advertisers and over 520 million mobile subscribers in the world's fastest growing market.
The strategic agreement will help both companies to extend their reach into new markets. Medio's exclusive focus on mobile has, it says, helped it become the leading white-label provider of mobile search in North America and Europe, delivering content recommendations and search advertising solutions for mobile operators including Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA, T-Mobile International and Telus Mobility.
mInfo, which is exclusively focused on the Chinese mobile arena, has deployed mobile search services designed from the ground up to meet the needs of Chinese mobile subscribers. mInfo is the only mobile search company to offer natural-language mobile search in both Chinese and English via SMS, WAP and instant messaging. Its services are accessible through every Chinese operator, including China Mobile, China Unicom, China Netcom and China Telecom.
“In China, there are four times as many mobile phone users as Internet users,” says mInfo CEO, Alvin Wang Graylin. “Very soon, when people on the street talk about search, they will mean mobile search. Search advertising will fuel the mobile Internet just as it has on the Web.
“With a combined mobile search platform that fuses both companies' technical and operational strengths, our joint offering will offer unmatched value to operators, consumers and advertisers. This partnership between two market leaders is truly a win-win situation.”
Graylin adds that mInfo's strength in messaging-based search and operational experience in the world's largest mobile market, together with Medio's rich mobile Internet search technology and international deployment experience, make for a complementary relationship that will give both parties an edge in their respective markets.
While natural language queries are seldom used in searches by Western subscribers, this is not the case in China. In the Chinese market, most subscribers have never used a PC or typed keywords into a search box, but they all use SMS and are comfortable phrasing mobile search queries the way they would ask a friend. By returning direct answers to search queries instead of links, and by personalising recommendations and advertising for each user, mobile subscribers using the mInfo/Medio search solution in China will find a simple-to-use experience and highly relevant results when and where they need them, the companies say.
The combined Medio/mInfo solution delivers the information or content the subscribers need within seconds. The combined search platform will also benefit mobile operators, enabling them to generate enhanced revenues from advertisers through highly targeted advertising that leverages consumer behavioural data.
“In the context of today's fast-growing mobile data market, Medio and mInfo will deliver a mobile search and advertising platform to enable Chinese mobile operators to establish an important new revenue channel and create a path for  advertisers to reach the largest consumer market in the world with highly relevant messages," says Medio CEO Brian Lent. “With a best-in-class consumer search and advertising offering that delivers a seamless, navigationally and graphically rich mobile experience optimized specifically for the mobile phone and the Chinese marketplace, this partnership will enhance discovery of mobile content for subscribers, while also delivering long-term benefit to operators."

CBS Hands Mobile Search Task to Medio

In what the companies claims is a US industry first, CBS Mobile has teamed up with Medio Systems, which provides mobile search and advertising solutions, to add search capabilities and search-enabled advertising opportunities to its CBS Mobile websites. The partnership marks a significant milestone for both companies in driving a standard for delivering easy-to-access mobile content to a growing mobile Internet audience, which is projected by eMarketer to exceed 750 million users worldwide by 2010. 
Under the agreement, Medio Systems will provide CBS Mobile users with the ability to easily search and navigate content on CBS Sports Mobile (wap.cbssports.com), CBS Mobile News (wap.cbsnews.com), and CW Mobile (wap.cwtv.com) mobile websites. The partnership also expands the wide-ranging menu of advertising options CBS mobile can offer its clients.
“Medio's search is truly mobile-centric in concept and design," says Cyriac Roeding, Executive Vice President of CBS Mobile. “When users search their favourite sports team on their cellphone, they want a very different search result than they would online. For instance, on their small screen, they might want a quick snapshot of the latest scores, injuries, news and gossip about the club.  This is the kind of experience we will be providing within CBS Sports Mobile with Medio Search. We are committed to joining forces with best-in-breed partners to ensure the user experience is second to none."
Medio Search is implemented on CBS Mobile sites via an easy-to-use search box. Search results will pull relevant information from CBS site content, as well as from the entire mobile web. Relevant ads will appear adjacent to the search results. They will be based on the user's own search terms, thus will be highly targeted. Clicks on ads surrounding CBS content translate into revenue for CBS Mobile. Also, content from CBS Mobile will be added to the Medio Mobile Web index, which includes content from all of Medio's partner sites.
The CBS announcement marks the official launch of Medio Mobile Search for Publishers, an ad-supported search solution that is built and optimized for the mobile experience. Through Medio, marketers can reach and target audiences across all of Medio's partner sites. This, says Medio, makes Medio MobileNow one of the largest aggregated mobile search advertising networks in the US.
“CBS has great insight into mobile consumption from their audience, and clear vision for extending brand loyalty beyond its outdoor, television and online media entities,” says Medio Systems CEO, Brian Lent. “We're excited to partner with CBS on creating a standard for what consumers should expect from a mobile experience. Medio understands the nuances of a mobile experience, and how it's drastically different than performing a search on a PC. Not only do users want quick access to answers or content in the fewest number of clicks, they also want relevant content that is optimized for their phone's screen. We look forward to delivering this to the CBS Mobile audience."

mobilePeople Searches in New Zealand

New Zealand directory publisher Yellow Pages Group is to launch a WAP2.0 mobile search service in conjunction with mobilePeople and Local Matters.
The mobile offering will be based on mobilePeople’s ‘liquid’ platform, and will enable New Zealanders using the Vodafone live! mobile service to benefit from a wealth of local information accessible on their mobile phones, through directory search. Yellow Pages Group’s solution will be browser-based and will integrate seamlessly into Vodafone live! It will combine directory listings from Yellow, a local map application and give directions to a chosen destination.
“The rapid adoption of mobile search has created a huge opportunity for directory publishers in New Zealand to monetize through mobile search-based advertising strategies,” says mobilepeople CEO and Co-founder Jens Andersen.
For Yellow Pages Group, Marketing Director Blair Glubb says the mobile service will complement the company’s existing range of find-it services for businesses which already cover the print, voice (directory assistance) and online channels.
“Significantly, this development will provide businesses with a way to connect with Vodafone live! customers who want to find-it while they’re on the go,” says Glubb. “We chose to work with Local Matters and mobilePeople as the companies are clearly the best of breed suppliers, and our culture, experience and vision marry up well. This is a big step for us and will help us realise our goal of being New Zealand’s number one find-it resource.”
The solution will be integrated with the Local Matters-powered local search engine, to deliver an integrated online and mobile solution for Yellow Pages Group. Local Matters Perry Evans says:
“We’re excited to see the extended usage into mobile services in cooperation with mobilePeople. Multi-modal implementations are becoming increasingly important, and we are pleased to see Yellow Pages Group take a leadership position in this arena.”