Yahoo! Inc. has announced the availability of its popular mobile search application, Yahoo! oneSearch, to consumers in seven more countries of the world.
Mobile internet users in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are among the growing list of countries that can now take advantage of Yahoo! oneSearch on their mobile device.
The oneSearch application is designed to provide consumers exactly what they want on their mobile device – instant, relevant answers, and makes it easy to access Yahoo!’s web, news, finance, weather, mobile web, Flickr and image search results on any mobile web browser.
Yahoo said OneSearch represents the second generation of mobile internet searches. “What consumers want from a mobile search is entirely different to what they want on the PC.” Yahoo has predicted that in 10 years more people will access the internet via their mobile rather than their PC.
We have designed OneSearch especially with mobile users in mind — it is not just a copy of our web search, it understands what busy consumers are looking for when they are on the move and brings up relevant answers in the first screen, said David Ko, vice president and general manager of Yahoo’s Connected Life in Asia.
For example, instead of displaying a long list of links when you type in the word ‘pizza’, the service will display the names of relevant restaurants in the area you have specified. It will also give distance information and contact details. Maps and driving instructions are displayed as well. Cinema listings, event details and traffic reports are to be added in the near future.
He explained why the company is trying so hard to spread this product, Yahoo! oneSearch delivers better results with just one search, instead of a sea of Web links to PC sites.
oneSearch leverages Yahoo!’s expertise in search on the desktop and mobile Internet services as well as relationships with leading content providers to deliver an innovative search experience to consumers. Consumers accessing Yahoo! Mobile Web in the listed countries will now find Yahoo! oneSearch at the top of the page.
The launch of the Yahoo! oneSearch service in Canada and Europe not so long ago was the first step in expanding its user base of mobile search technology. The country count is now 80 according to the country drop down menu.
The push into Asia and beyond is seen as yet another aggressive drive by Yahoo! to get their innovative technology into the hands of everyday mobile users. In countries like India and Vietnam, the mobile network is a lifeline for many, with traditional landline phone networks not reaching remote villages and towns where cell phone coverage is a lot cheaper to implement.
Yahoo! oneSearch on Yahoo!’s Mobile Web service has advertising built into the experience, enabling advertisers to reach consumers on their mobile devices across major mobile operators. This further extends the reach of Yahoo!’s advertising services to the mobile environment. Consumers will be able to click on an ad to go to the advertisers’ mobile Web site or a landing page to get additional information about the advertisers’ offerings, including the ability to call the advertiser.
As for the product’s launch in India, all the standard goodies have been made available, including news, weather, and Flickr.
The Yahoo One Search service currently works with more than 100 handsets, and more are to be added throughout the year. It works best with 3G/HSDPA, but even simpler WAP-enabled handsets will work just as well.
Yahoo! oneSearch will undoubtedly receive a lot of attention over the next few months as the functionality of the service is tweaked and improved. Moreover, the drive to release the service to other countries in the future will likely gain momentum as we move into the second half of 2007.