Internet search giant Google has introduced its first downloadable cellphone application, bringing its acclaimed map technology to phones, continuing the search engine leader’s effort to extend its reach beyond personal computers.
Fewer steps are required to call up, display a map of any destination with its latest software version.
With Google Local for mobile devices, users can get colorful, overhead views of a neighborhood and even check a hotel listing to see how close it is to the beach. Unlike most new cellphone offerings that work on only a handful of phones, Google’s application can be used on more than 100 current phones that use the Java Brew programming language.
That includes models from Cingular, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile. Verizon’s phones use a different programming language, as do BlackBerrys and Palm devices, so they are not compatible.
Mobile users can search for locations and then view them on a map. They can also view the location as a satellite image and get driving directions. Also, when users find a listing through the service, they can click on the phone number and automatically place a call to the number.
Users can shift their view of the map or zoom, just like they can drag and zoom in on maps in Google Local when accessed through a computer. The offerings expand on the Google Local search functions made available to mobile devices earlier this year.
We know local information is a big deal for our users, says Deep Nishar, Google’s director of product management.
To test the service, Google lent Sprint’s MM-A800 by Samsung ($179, with contract) to reviewers. But Sprint says many models work with the program — including the free (with contract) V1660 by Samsung. Check www.google.com/glm to see whether your phone is on the list.
Google’s search engine is currently available to cellphone users with an Internet data plan, but this is the first time Google has added graphics in a separate application to wireless devices. Text results for a search are fine, but sometimes you need to use a map to orient yourself, Nishar says.
Google has been exploring ways to pinpoint the location of its users in order to better target ads from nearby merchants. But Nishar said that goal is not driving the mobile upgrade: Google does not plan to display ads alongside its mobile maps.
Ads generate virtually all of Google’s revenue, which totaled $4.2 billion through the first nine months of this year. The Mountain View, California-based company recorded a $1.1 billion profit during that time, continuing an exceptional streak of prosperity that has propelled its market value above $100 billion just seven years after its inception.
Google’s program, like most local wireless applications, is ad-free. Greg Sterling, an analyst for researcher Kelsey Group, sees wireless local applications reaping $386 million in advertising by 2009, vs. practically nothing today.
Using Google’s local application on a mobile phone is a good deal more complicated than on the Web, unless you have a phone with a traditional QWERTY keyboard. Users must switch a phone’s numeric keyboard into letter mode and find the button on the phone that doubles as the "enter" button. That takes time to get used to.
Google’s Local for mobile is "one of the slickest applications to come to cellphones," says Chris Sherman. It is nice to have, especially if you are in a New City and do not know where you are going. But otherwise, I would probably just stick with the text.
Emboldened by its success, Google has been busily expanding beyond its once-austere search engine. With the push, Google is becoming increasingly involved in telecommunications, television and publishing.
Yahoo has a competing search and map program for mobile phones, heavy on text and light on graphics. For most consumers, that are just fine, says Chris Sherman, the editor of the SearchDay blog.
Mobile phone sales rose 30 percent last year to more than 674 million units, according to marker researcher Gartner Inc.
Google’s application and service is free, but users will need an Internet data plan from their cellphone provider, which adds $10 to $25 to monthly bills.