Summary Pay-per-call provider Ingenio and market research firm Harris Interactive released results of a survey (n = 4,123) today that shows interesting data around consumer preferences for mobile devices and advertising. These are important data, as any embryonic area requires…
The week of the iPhone's launch has begun, and the needle on the hype-o-meter has begun to twitch. The official launch is on Friday, and you can expect a fair amount of pushing and shoving as everyone tries to get…
The Kelsey Group and AMR International joined forces to hold a summit in London on the Future of Local Search in Europe. It was an invitation-only affair, which is why you probably didn’t hear about it. Not surprisingly, most of…
Following in the footsteps of Jingle Nets’ 1-800-Free411 (and failed services, like inFreeDA), Verizon LiveSource has launched a trial of a free DA service in Boston and Denver. The ad-supported service boasts the catchy number: 800-THE-INFO. It uses Call Genie's…
Summary The New York Times today continues the ongoing discussion of the iPhone's potential as a game changer and its possible shortcomings. It brings up the challenge that could arise in getting consumers accustomed to a radically different interface that…
Consumers increasingly use the Web to search for services. But it is tough to complete the loop and actually order service. In many cases, businesses are either unresponsive to phone calls and e-mails, or their information is inaccurate. All this…
The success of American Idol’s TXT messaging voting has gotten women shoppers thinking of it as a major media guide, or so claims NearByNow Founder Scott Dunlap, who is pushing hard to provide TXT promotions to malls around the U.S.…
Summary After completing a free DA call this week using Google's newly launched 800-GOOG411, we were asked if a text message was desired in addition to the free voice and "connect me" features (the multimodal functionality that is standard in…
Here at O’Reilly’s Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, an annual event for 800+ mashup developers, there’s no perspective yet on the importance of maps to the local ecosphere. But a picture is developing of a “3D Data arms race,”…
Summary Examining patent filings has become something of a beat, in the blogospheric reporting of online media. ZDNet's Russel Shaw takes a look at a fresh Google patent application for a new mobile local search app. The long term potential…
Local.com has announced a new mobile search product. Though it has been in testing for a while (I received a quick preview at SES in April), it officially launched today. Known as Local Mobile, the ad supported mobile site lets…
Following the post on the verticalization of mobile search, I was able to talk to mobile search startup GoUAskMe. Unlike the SMS based local search tools cited in that post, the company is trying to ride the growing wave of…
The next wave of online mobile has taken a step forward with the introduction of voice recognition technology. In a recent Boston Globe article, several new voice applications for mobile Web search are discussed including Microsoft's recent acquisition of Tellme.…
I only have time for a quick post, but it strikes me how so many local search plays are launching SMS-based search services. As noted earlier, NearbyNow has this; vFlyer launched a mobile search product today; Vehix.com plans to do…
MapQuest today announced a partnership with GM's OnStar division that will allow online users to send maps and turn-by-turn spoken directions to their OnStar devices. This falls in line with the cross-platform personalization that we’re seeing a lot of in…
The recently acquired Tellme today announced that it will integrate a new local business search into its multi-modal voice search platform. From the press release: The free service launches today with local business search by business name or category. Designed…
Mobile versions of newspaper and TV station sites WAPsites have mostly been corporate vanity projects, generally attracting just a couple of dozen regular users. But as the demographics for enhanced mobile services have graduated from kids downloading ringtones and…
Google has officially launched its free 411 product. The number, 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), makes business name and category search accessible from any U.S. telephone. This is a product we originally uncovered in our report Wireless Voice Search: The Multi-Modal Revolution. At…
Yellowpages.com today joined the ranks of local search providers that have an SMS-based mobile local search application. Similar to Google SMS and Yahoo! Mobile (and one from Starbucks), any cellphone user can send a business name or category in a…
The CTIA Wireless confab is under way, and we're expecting a host of product launches and announcements that have implications for mobile local search. A prelude to some of these were given last week at TKG's Drilling Down On Local…
