A couple of weeks after Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker announced a partnership with Yahoo! to enhance the search capabilities for its smart-phones, the Finnish phone maker has reached a similar agreement with Microsoft to do essentially the same thing.
“In fact, Microsoft’s Live Search joins Yahoo! as part of Nokia’s Mobile Search Platform,” thus enabling consumers access to Live Search directly from their Nokia Nseries multimedia computers and other compatible Nokia S60 devices. Live Search will provide advanced web search results in 14 languages to enable on-the-go access to the information and content consumers want most.
In addition, the companies said users will also gain quick and easy access to stock quotes, movie times, and common facts via Encarta Instant Answers#.
Nokia Nseries is a range of high performance multimedia computers that delivers unparalleled mobile multimedia experiences by combining the latest technologies with stylish design and ease of use. With Nokia Nseries products, consumers can use a single device to enjoy entertainment, access information and to capture and share pictures and videos, whenever and wherever they want.
According to Nokia, this mobile search experience will help the user find quicker results as compared to the browser, and also help find the Web page of an internet search provider, since in many cases search will be accessible directly from the menu screen.
"Adding advanced searching capabilities of Microsoft’s Live Search to our Mobile Search platform provides our customers with unique and powerful new ways to search the internet on their multimedia computers and many other compatible Nokia mobile devices," commented Ralph Eric Kunz, vice president, Multimedia Experiences. "The Mobile Search platform is dedicated towards creating a user experience that is easy to access and optimally integrated into other functions of the device."
John DeVitis, product unit manager – live Search for mobile, Microsoft Corp, said, "Live Search offers consumers unprecedented control and personalization, giving them easy access to searching the Web plus targeted instant information from their mobile devices."
“We are pleased to provide advanced Live Search services to enhance the search experience on Nokia’s S60 handsets,” he said.
Early data on Mobile Search shows that 86 percent of all image search results are opened, 36 percent are added to the S60 Gallery application and 85 percent of all Web searches resulted in a browser being launched to access the searched for information. The Mobile Search platform also increases consumer discoverability of search on mobile devices, Nokia said.
The Mobile Search application is expected to be available in select markets in the standard sales packs of the Nokia N80 Internet Edition, Nokia N73, Nokia N93, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6680, and Nokia 6681, it is also offered as a free download for select Nokia S60 devices from www.nokia.com/mobilesearch.
Yahoo! and Microsoft are not the only search giants partnering with Nokia nowadays. Google’s free instant messaging service Google Talk, which also allows users to make Internet-based voice calls, as well as its search services are now bundled with Nokia’s 770 Wi-Fi Internet Tablet.
Google looks towards mobility as the future. The company went so far as to tell the Times of London in June that the mobile sector will become the principal driver of growth. And, according to Deep Nishar, the Google’s director of wireless products, the search giant is testing dozens of new search technologies in an effort to better present search results on cell phones, smart-phones, PDAs and other Pocket-sized devices.
# Availability of Encarta Instant Answers varies by market.