Carriers battle to keep mobile search users inside their networks

Mobile operators are battling with Google over the provision of search on their mobile networks, according to a panel of Asian and European operators said at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment tradeshow in San Francisco.

Search is the key battleground, said Graeme Ferguson, director of global content development at Vodafone. Mobile search engines do not typically use advertising, but will include sponsored listings in the results presented to users.

Google Inc. has announced that it is setting up a branch in Israel as part of the expansion of its international activities. To handle its operation, Google appointed Meir Brand as Israel country manager and the company’s first employee in Israel. He previously worked for AOL and Microsoft.

Google appointed Meir Brand as the director of its Israel office, a Harvard Business school graduate who until recently worked for Microsoft. Apart from MSN's Israeli site, the country's leading Internet portals are currently all locally operated and include the Ynet, Walla and NRG news sites, as well as the Yellow Pages and the Nana and Tapuz portals.

Google Inc.'s wrath is short lived, it turns out.
Google Inc.'s boycott of News.com appears to have ended quietly, less than three months after company executives told the technology news site that they would stop speaking with its reporters for a year.

Search engine was irked over story on chief executive

Google has released from beta its Firefox search toolbar, which includes features such as spell check and a word translator.

Google also offers a search toolbar for Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, which does not have the auto-suggest capability and is less customizable than the Firefox application. The Mountain View, Calif., search engine released the Firefox toolbar.