PROXIMIC DEBUTS PROXIMIC AGENTS APPLICATION FOR IPHONE

Search and contextual advertising firm Proximic has introduced the first version of Proximic Agents, a mobile search application. Currently available at the iPhone App store, Proximic Agents focuses on offering personalized and intelligent news on the iPhone. The application will scour through over a million RSS news feeds to find relevant content. Proximic Agents comes with a number of smartphone-friendly features, such as "Point to Search," which enables users to find relevant information just by pointing to an entire block of text on the touch screen. In addition, Proximic Agents enables users to request and receive timely information on any number of topics. Based on Proximic's language-independent approach to finding and matching contextually relevant information, the new application enables users to search and receive information by using features designed for new generations of mobile phones like touch screens, while de-emphasizing features better suited to desktop computers. Proximic's "pattern proximity" search approach automatically reads and matches relevant content according to interconnected "patterns" that are not even based on words but which exist within each document. Later versions of the application will look to increase the relevance of information and substantially decrease the users’ efforts in accessing that information. "The market for search and contextual advertising has as much potential – if not greater potential – on the mobile handset as it has had on the computer desktop," said Proximic CTO Thomas Nitsche. "But first, search must adapt to the way consumers use their mobile phones. Mobile handset manufacturers have spent a great deal of time and energy understanding how consumers use their phones. It's time for the search market to catch up, and become more proactive and less of a strain for the users. At Proximic, we want to contribute to solving this situation and make a big move in the right direction."-Smarajit Dasgupta