Yahoo makes its Web, local and image search available on browser-enabled mobile devices, following a different approach than rival Google.
Mobile search gained another convert as Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday extended Web, local and image search to wireless devices. During a keynote at the CTIA Wireless show here, Yahoo Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig said that the mobile industry has reached a "tipping point" where devices could meet user demand for mobile online services such as those from Yahoo. "Yahoo has put [mobile] as one of its most important priorities," Rosensweig said. "We think now the industry is finally ready to take on the demand of users."
About 79 percent of Yahoo's U.S. users also own a mobile phone, Rosensweig said, and they increasingly are using phones that support data. Among all U.S. Internet users, about 30 percent have access to a data-enabled mobile phone, he said. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo joins archrival Google Inc. in the mobile search space, though the two companies so far have taken different approaches. Google earlier this month launched a beta of Google SMS, which lets users conduct targeted searches—such as for local businesses, product prices and dictionary definitions—through text messages.
News source: eWeek
