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Mobile Search Roundup: Growth Stats, Medio Vs. Google, Voice Search
Posted by Peggy Anne Salz Thu 08 Mar 2007 08:30 AM PST Quick Stats:

The annual industry survey conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), based on a survey of 587 agency and in-house advertisers conducted in November and December 2006 by Radar Research, LLC and Intellisurvey, shows respondents are not convinced mobile search delivers a value-add over more traditional search advertising. This market-savvy – albeit small – sample is reluctant to pay a premium for mobile search, with nearly half flat against the idea. Almost 25 percent said they prefer to pay less for mobile search than for traditional search. A bright spot: 60 percent said they are interested in contextually targeted advertising delivered to mobile search users.

--What is the potential of the mobile search market? Independent consultant Chetan Sharma has some insightful excerpts on his blog. In a nutshell, he estimates desktop search outpaces mobile search by a ratio of 3:1. But the revenue potential of the mobile search market in the U.S. alone is set to reach $2.5 billion in 2010, up from just $100 million in 2007.

Bigger Than Google?: This post in SEO Principle followed up on the recent BusinessWeek article about mobile search and did its homework. It figures Medio Systems, which provides search to Verizon and T-Mobile in the U.S., serves up results to a user base of around 84.1 million users. The author’s conclusion: “If 10% of both mobile operators’ users (and I think I’m being pessimistic with this percentage) use search on their portal, that makes 8.41 million users for Medio in the U.S., that is twice more users than Google Mobile.”

Multimodal Search: Voice-enabled mobile search schemes are gaining some serious traction. In fact, the growing interest in mobile advertising may even accelerate the use of voice as brands and content owners seek the lowest common denominator interface to reach the highest number of users. The VSearch service from VoiceSignal, for example, is activated via a button on the handset and prompts the user to speak the location and name or category of a business. The system processes the request and then delivers the answer - along with relevant, interactive advertisements – to the user’s mobile phone. To date, a free downloadable version of VSearch is available for Nokia Series 60 devices; other OEMs and carriers will be announced starting in 2H2007. Release.

--Educational publisher Encyclopaedia Britannica is the newest convert to mobile search as a means to deliver quick answers on-the-fly. The company has teamed up with AskMeNow Inc., a search company focused on delivering text results to user queries. Users can also sign up to receive Britannica Mobile Dailies - daily topical features sent directly to their mobile phones free of charge via AskMeNow, such as Biography of the Day, Quote of the Day, and This Day in History.

--U.S. mobile operator Alltel Wireless has sealed a deal to make AskMeNow’s intelligent mobile search service available to its users. The app, which users can also download on smartphones running BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Mobile 5.0, is available for a flat rate price of $3.99 per month. Users without a smartphone can text ASKME (27563) to start their service, which costs $0.25 per question or a flat rate of $1.99 per month.

http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-mobile-search-roundup-growth-stats-medio-vs-google-voice-search/