GOOGLE ENHANCES SMS SEARCH IN INDIA

Google India has launched a new version of Google SMS Search with enhanced features. Users can text their query to 9773300000 at the cost of a regular SMS and get answers. This service is available across all operators in India on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones. SMS Search offers cricket scores, Indian Railways information, stock quotes, horoscope, news, movie showtimes, flight status information, weather, currency conversion, calculator, and more. It also offers local business search across 34 cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Vadodara, Surat, Kanpur, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ernakulam, Cochin, Gaziabad, Bhuwneshwar, Aurangabad, Lucknow, Nashik, Indore, Panaji, Bhopal, Agra, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Jalandhar, Amritsar, and Coimbatore. -Smarajit Dasgupta

TAPTU SELECTS ESENDEX FOR SEARCH CONTENT SHARING

Cambridge-based mobile search engine Taptu has chosen communications provider Esendex to enable rapid content sharing via SMS. Mobile content searches can now be shared more easily via text message across the Esendex SMS network. "Enabling consumers to not only find great entertainment super-fast but to be able to share it with their friends is proving very popular with our users. But our users demand that what they share will be received, so its essential we have a confidence in our SMS partner. We chose Esendex as it has direct links to the five major UK mobile operators and the service is proven, reliable, and effective," said Lynsey Tucker, Head of Commercial at Taptu. -Smarajit Dasgupta

118 218 INTRODUCES SMS Q&A SERVICE IN FRANCE

France-based DQ provider 118 218 has launched a text message based Q&A service called “Tout sur Tout.” The service aims to answer any kind of questions on any topic, including directory based queries. Users can SMS their questions to 118 218 and expect to receive a response within 3 minutes. The questions are handled by 118 218 call center operators who draw answers from the web, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and content provided by partners. The service is accessible from all mobile operators in France and is priced at € 0.50 per question, chargeable only if an answer is found. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ALLTEL WIRELESS LAUNCHES IDLE SCREEN-BASED CONTENT AND ADVERTISING SOLUTION

Alltel Wireless has launched a customized interactive content service called Alltel Perks, which delivers sports scores, weather information, trivia, etc directly to the idle screen of customers’ phones. One needs to download the free Alltel Perks application from the Alltel Shop to receive content even when the handset is not in use. The content may also include discount offers from local merchants and coupons for restaurants. The service, powered by Mobile Posse, is fully customizable based on consumer preference and feedback. It delivers content based on the customers’ ZIP code, age, and gender, in addition to providing information and offers related to specific times of day and days of the week. Delivered messages are maintained in the “Recent Offer Menu” folder for a short period of time, so customers can take advantage of the current offers and discounts. As offers are pushed onto the handset, users can open the banner to display more content by selecting the “View” hot button as indicated on the phone. If any other button is selected the offer will go away. Airtime charges may be applicable for the service. “The launch of Alltel Perks represents an innovative way for our customers to receive offers and information that is of interest, while providing marketers a powerful vehicle for reaching potential customers wherever they may be,” said Jeff Giard, Alltel’s VP of product development and mobile advertising. “As handsets continue to evolve into entertainment, media and content delivery devices, Alltel continues to provide our customers with the most useful services and applications, such as Alltel Perks.” -Smarajit Dasgupta

GOOGLE MOBLE APP DELIVERS MOBILE SEARCH RESULTS WITH FEWER KEYSTROKES

The keyboard limitations of mobile phones are a significant disincentive to moble phone search which the new release of Google Mobile App for the iPhone, dated November 14, is designed to address (this seems to be a very early release--v. 0.3.142.951). Google Mobile App team member Mike LeBeau demonstrates the features of the new release in a Youtube video available from a PC and, in an innovative use of mobile video, on the iPhone under the Google Moble App Settings, About section.

LeBeau stresses four new features: voice-initiated search using the iPhone Accelerometer; search results based on location; mannually initiated voice search results; faster suggestions for search results on keyboard-initiated searches.

The voice-initiated search using the iPhone Accelerometer requires that the Screen Rotation feature be turned off. Using the Google Mobile App with the Screen Rotation feature turned off, lifting the iPhone to your ear starts the recording, lowering the iPhone from your ear initiates the voice recognition and search. This feature works as described.

The search results based on location also works as narrowly described, but not broadly. Asking for "movie showtimes" produced a listing of showtimes for movies in our location. However, "movie schedule," "traffic reports," and "weather reports" produced results without consideration of our location. The first results for "movie schedule," "traffic report," and "weather report" were wap.fandango.com, www.traffic.com, and www.weather.com.

Initiating search by tapping the microphone icon produced the same results as the motion-initiated search, while bypassing the Accelerometer.

The fourth feature demonstrates Google's reach into the wide range of data. By initiating a keyboard search for "weather," Google Mobile returned a link to a Google Maps search for weather, a linke to "The Weather Channel" in the phone's contact list, a link to www.weather.com, and various other links.

Google isn't the first to voice-enable the iPhone--we wrote about Say Where from Dial Directions last month--and it isn't without limitations. One limitation is the Youtube demo on the iPhone in the Google Mobile App Settings, About section: it didn't work. While it did bring up the Youtube video, the video itself kept pausing and wouldn't play without constantly pressing the play button. Another limitation is the fact that voice-initiated search results don't include information in the iPhone contact list--though some privacy-sensitive individuals may in fact prefer what we see as a limitation. With respect to driving directions, Google Mobile App doesn't attempt to deliver driving directions in the same manner as the Say Where application from Dial Directions--Google Mobile App would merely take you to Google Maps.

Finally, advertising-supported applications from Google are all about driving traffic to applications and because Google has made no secret about its belief that mobile services will offer as great or greater revenue opportunities as the fixed-line Internet. To that end, conveniently located on the Google Moble App main window is a link to other Google Apps: Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Reader, Goog-411, News, Notebook, Photos, orkut, Translate, Maps, YouTube, and Earth. Google Mobile App is likely to be a very powerful tool--for Google. -Stuart Whitaker