AIRTEL TO OFFER ASKLAILA-POWERED CITY SEARCH IN INDIA

India-based local search provider asklaila has partnered with private telecom service provider Airtel to power its city search services. The free “Airtel city search” service will reach more than 30 million users across the six cities where asklaila is available, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Bangalore. The uniqueness in Airtel’s offering lies in the fact that the local search service will be available across three screens, i.e. mobile, PC (via Airtel’s broadband service), and TV (Airtel DTH). The mobile service will be available across four modes: SMS, USSD, WAP, and Airtel Live. To use it via SMS, users can text a keyword to 54321. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is an instant messaging type phone service and can be used in even basic phone models. This is accessible under Airtel Live USSD portal by dialing *321#. It will also be integrated in the Airtel service menu, under the Airtel Live brand. asklaila is a service of Four Interactive and its search features include proximity search, syntax-free search option, address compression, locality short forms, and landmark information. -Smarajit Dasgupta

YAHOO! ONESEARCH FOR VOICE LAUNCHES IN THE UK

Yahoo! oneSearch with voice is now available in the UK allowing mobile users to initiate searches by speaking. It lets consumers perform unstructured searches and adapts to the user's intonations and accent, providing increasingly fine-tuned results as the product is used. Users can switch between speaking and typing at any time. Yahoo! oneSearch with voice for UK can be downloaded from uk.m.yahoo.com. The service is free, though carrier data charges may be applicable. -Smarajit Dasgupta

SCANLIFE 2D BARCODE APPLICATION NOW ON SPRINT CAMERA PHONES

Select Sprint phone users can now use the New York-based Scanbuy Inc’s ScanLife application to obtain information via 2D barcodes. Customers can scan a barcode and send it to a website via their Sprint phone to find information such as pricing, availability, and additional product information. “Sprint is excited to launch Scanbuy’s 2D barcode technology, which combines with the speed of the Now Network to give our customers a new way to access information they want the instant they want it,” said Len Barlik, VP of wireless and wireline services at Sprint. “Mobile barcode scanning promises to help customers quickly get to information and services.” ScanLife will be initially available on more than 30 Sprint camera phones. It can be downloaded by visiting www.getscanlife.com from the mobile browser or by texting “SCAN” to 70734. The 2D barcodes can be placed by companies or individuals on any physical media. For the creation of barcodes ScanLife also has a Code Management Platform at www.scanlife.com. Barcodes can also be linked to one’s contact information or social networking profiles. -Smarajit Dasgupta

REPORT: MICROSOFT NEARING MOBILE SEARCH DEAL WITH VERIZON WIRELESS

The Wall Street Journal reported citing sources that Microsoft is closing in on finalizing a mobile search deal with Verizon Wireless whereby Microsoft will become the default search provider on Verizon devices. The deal is said to be worth US$ 550 million to US$ 650 million over five years. Reportedly, this figure is nearly double of what rival Google has offered for the same deal. Microsoft is apparently also negotiating a deal with Verizon to distribute Windows Mobile software via more of the carrier’s devices. Combined worth of the two deals could be to the tune of US$ 1 billion. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ITSMY.COM CHOOSES TAPTU FOR MOBILE SEARCH

Mobile community itsmy.com has appointed Taptu to power mobile search and provide access to an index of mobile-friendly web content. itsmy.com, a brand of Gofresh GmbH, boasts of over two million users, who will now be able to access to a variety of content via Taptu including videos, music, images, and more. itsmy.com CEO Antonio Vince Staybl said, "We wanted to work with a company that really “gets” mobile and understands that desktop search isn't mobile search. Taptu is made for mobile and we love its unique and social way to search the mobile web." In addition to core search functionality, Taptu offers mobile search sponsored links to its mobile partners. Taptu mobile search can also be accessed at taptu.com on Internet-enabled mobile phones with a standard mobile browser and is available in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German. Founded in 2007, Taptu is privately held with investors including 3i and Sofinnova. -Smarajit Dasgupta

LOCAL.COM BRINGS LOCAL MOBILE TO VIRGIN MOBILE NETWORK

Local.com has launched Local Mobile on the Virgin Mobile USA network offering the carrier’s more than five million customers access to Local Mobile directly from all 3G Virgin Mobile USA handsets. Local Mobile is an ad-supported local mobile site that provides users with access to directory services and search results for local businesses, products, and services. Local.com president and COO Bruce Crair said, “This partnership allows Virgin Mobile USA customers to easily access relevant local business information from their mobile devices, and is part of Local.com’s efforts to expand the reach of our Local Mobile product to consumers nationwide.” Local.com partnered with mobile community applications company Trilibis Mobile to develop and deploy Local Mobile. Features in Local Mobile include local business information based on “what” and “where” search; business profile pages with mapping; driving directions; click-to-call; listings sent to a mobile phone or device via SMS; and sorting of results by relevance, distance, or name. -Smarajit Dasgupta

HIOGI INTRODUCES COMMUNITY-BASED MOBILE Q&A SERVICE VIA SKYPE

hiogi has launched a mobile question and answer service "hiogi for Skype" that enables users to ask for advice by typing a question into their Skype chat window. "hiogi for Skype mobile is the easiest way to receive quick answers while traveling," said Bjoern Behrendt, CEO of hiogi. "It's like chatting with a good friend, who is always willing to help and who knows everything." Questions are answered by the online community. Users can register for free, add their Skype name on the site, and approve hiogi to be added in their contact list. Questions can be sent to hiogi directly on Skype by writing the keyword “ASK” before the question. Answers are accompanied by references or comments on the Skype chat window. A list of all functions can be requested by typing in the keyword HELP into the chat window. -Smarajit Dasgupta

RELEVANTADS.COM LAUNCHES MOBILE BUSINESS DIRECTORY

SEO firm Relevant Ads recently launched a mobile search business directory to coincide with the launch of T-Mobile G1 Google Android-powered phone. Relevant Ads founder and CTO David Rodecker said, "We launched our mobile directory to coincide with the launch of this device so that its users, and other mobile device users, can access our customer's business profiles on the Internet. Now, our customers will not only be found by people searching the Internet at home and work, but also while searching the Internet from anywhere on their mobile device." RelevantAds.com has included all of its existing local business customers in the new mobile business directory at no additional cost. It has also rolled out Google's Mobile Adwords program to its customer base. -Smarajit Dasgupta

ABI RESEARCH: 82 MILLION MOBILE LOCATION BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING SUBSCRIPTIONS BY 2013

ABI Research predicts that there will be over 82 million mobile location-based social networking subscriptions by 2013. According to ABI Research, licensing agreements with carriers and handsets manufacturers will be a crucial success factor for location-enabled social networking. Ad-based models are expected to prevail in the long run. The emergence of location-enabled instant messaging with applications such as Palringo Local and Nokia Chat are also enriching mobile communication with location context. "While growth will be mainly driven by the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets, other mobile form factors will also become important," said ABI Research director Dominique Bonte. "Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) with built-in GPS receivers have been announced, with location-based social networking site GyPSii supporting Moblin-based Intel Atom processor-powered MIDs. Connected PNDs and outdoor GPS solutions are other obvious candidates for location-based networking. Nissan Carwings' in-car telematics solution allows the sharing and ranking of fuel consumption in Japan." -Smarajit Dasgupta

A WALK DOWN THE ANDROID MARKET

With the launch of the first Android-powered phone T-Mobile G1 and the opening of the Android Market, a number of online applications for the Android platform have gone live. Google and the Open Handset Alliance have also made the Android platform source code open to developers letting them build applications and services for Android-powered devices. The Android Market lets users download, rate, and comment on applications. These user ratings coupled with usage statistics will determine how the applications are ranked. Developers need to register with a US$ 25 fee and go through an authentication process before being able to put up their applications on the marketplace. The initial applications will be the free, but from first quarter 2009 developers will be able to distribute paid applications. Developers will be able to take home 70% of the revenue generated from the paid-for applications, while the rest of the revenue share will go to the carriers and billing settlement fees (Google will not keep a share for itself).

Applications available already fall into six categories: Contacts / Events; Environment; Information Services; Location Based; Shopping; and Social Networking.

Application, Developer, URL	Description
Contacts / events
e-ventr, Michael Zitzelsberger, www.e-ventr.com	A personal event organizer and friendship scout that allows one to arrange meetings, organize activities, and accept invitations.
iSkoot For Skype, iSkoot Inc., www.iskoot.com	It lets users access their Skype contacts, make and receive Skype calls, chat, and place SkypeOut calls from their mobile phone. Currently available in the US only, iSkoot does not require a WiFi connection or 3G networks.
Maverick, Multiple Facets Inc., www.multiplefacets.com	Maverick is a Google Talk compatible instant messenger that integrates photos, scribbles, audio clips, location, and graphical emotions into the experience. It also enables users to receive Gmail notifications.
Environment
Ecorio, Jeff Kao, Robert Lam, Gary Pong, Taneem Talukdar, Jason Wong, www.ecorio.org	Ecorio tracks one’s “mobile carbon footprint” and encourages one to reduce and offset it. It runs in the background of one’s phone and tracks when one is moving by car or public transport and adds up the trips and calculates carbon output for each trip. It also draws from Google Transit to suggest transit routes one could take for the trips. One can purchase equivalent offset amounts based on their carbon footprint and these are used to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects.
Information services
BreadCrumbz, Amos Yoffe, www.bcrumbz.com	A picture-based navigation application for mobile phones that lets one navigate using pictures as well as a map. One can create their own picture routes and share them.
WikiMobile Encyclopedia, Bonfire Media Inc, www.bonfiremedia.com	Provides access to all 2 million Wikipedia articles, including pictures and quick facts. Users can bookmark their favorites for easy tracking.
Wikitude , Philipp Breuss, www.mobilizy.com	A mobile global travel guide based on location-based Wikipedia content. It helps in planning a trip or to find out about landmarks in one’s surroundings. It offers searching of 350,000 world-wide points of interest by GPS or by address and have results displayed in a list view, map view, or camera view.
Location based
cab4me light, Skycoders , www.cab4me.com	Lets one select the pickup location on a map or from their contacts to get a cab. cab4me light then provides a list of cab companies serving the area along with contact information.
iMap Weather, Weathertop Consulting LLC and Weather Decision Technologies Inc, www.wdtinc.com	Offers graphically enriched "street level" weather information including high-quality radar images, lightning strike information, current weather conditions, weather forecasts, and active severe weather watches and warnings notifications. Users can explore local weather conditions interactively, create pinpoint forecasts, and zoom in and out of radar weather data for current or chosen locations.
iSafe, Navee Technologies, www.freefamilywatch.com	iSafe offers safety guides with voice alerts on high-crime neighborhoods, severe weather, allergies, air quality, and speed limit monitoring.
LifeAware, LifeAware LLC, www.lifeaware.net	LifeAware lets one use their phone or the LifeAware website to locate friends and family. Users can setup zones to trigger alerts when friends or family enter or leave the area. They can also tag locations with descriptions and images and share them. Users can specify whether to use GPS, network, or both.
Locale, Clare Bayley, Carter Jernigan, Jasper Lin, Jennifer Shu, Christina Wright, www.androidlocale.com	Locale is a location-aware settings manager that automatically changes one’s phone's settings based on conditions, such as location. One can create Situations, which specify conditions under which one’s settings should change. Examples of true/false-based condition questions are "Am I at home?" or "Is my battery below 20%?" and corresponding settings can be "turn on call forwarding to my landline" and "turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth" respectively. One can also use it to automatically turn their phone into silent / vibrator mode when they near their office by specifying distance and location.
Marvin, Laurent Pontier, www.marvinreloaded.com	Marvin lets users publish and browse user generated content by location, type, services, keyword, or all combined. It provides access to a collection of location based services such as buddy and family Finder (MyLocation), job search (MyJob), real estate locator (MyHouse), cars locator (MyCar), geo-blogging (MyLog), and friends seeker (MyHeart).
Shopping
Compare Everywhere, Jeffrey Sharkey, www.compare-everywhere.com	A shopping assistant that allows users to scan a barcode and instantly search online and local stores to find out if the offered sale price is a good deal. The application also offers reviews and allows keeping track of shopping lists and wish lists and sharing them with friends. Users can connect with stores using driving directions or phone.
ShopSavvy, Big in Japan, www.biggu.com	ShopSavvy is a comparison-shopping application that lets one use the mobile phone camera to scan the barcode of any product to find the best prices online and through the inventories of local stores using GPS.
Social networking
MySpace Mobile, Myspace.com, www.myspace.com	MySpace Mobile for Android lets one stay connected with friends on their MySpace network, share photos, view their inbox, comments, bulletins, etc. Users can also add photos from their phone camera, send messages, and post blog updates.
Wertago, Wertago team, www.wertago.com	Wertago is an application designed for nightlifers that lets users share their experience and rate and tag venues, upload and comment on pictures, and connect with other socialites.

-Smarajit Dasgupta