The School of Mobile Vol. 2 - The Detail
Why is mobile search different to internet search? Is it actually different?
As more people use their mobile phones to access content, informa�on and entertainment, a search
func�on becomes a requirement in order to locate what they’re looking for quickly and easily. As
with any new technology driven service, there are mul�ple ways to implement such mobile search
func�onality. Mobile search differs from PC search because inpu�ng text is trickier on the mobile
not to men�on the screen size is much smaller. This affects the length and indeed the nature of key
phrases. Second, people’s searches will be different based on the fact that their needs and the type
of informa�on they want to access change when they search via the mobile. For example not many
people will be searching for ar�cles on the dining proclivi�es of Alexander the Great or the reasons
for the downfall of the Roman Empire unless they are trying to cheat at trivial pursuit. They will
instead be looking for highly relevant and ac�onable informa�on, fast.
How do consumers use search on the mobile?
When you search with your mobile you may want concise informa�on related to what you are
doing at that �me, your context and your loca�on. Mobile search centres on convenience and
instant gra�fica�on/relevant results. Mobile users typically seek concise, ac�onable informa�on
and the same goes for the mobile traveller, perhaps more so. Mobile search is a complicated and
mul�faceted cycle that includes different stakeholders within the mobile ecosystem including
the search providers, consumers, marketers, mobile operators, portals, publishers and content
providers. Mobile search is able to leverage loca�on and geo-tagged informa�on. Relevancy to the
consumer is of even more importance to the mobile searcher as it is to the internet searcher.
A Perspec�ve on mobile search:
Search is doubling every year on mobile. All operators have a portal with a search box
that allow you to go ‘off-deck’, normally the operators ensure that on-portal results will be
displayed first. All the operators accept the fact that people want to search off portal and
they ensure their own on-portal results are on top.
Mobile search is not black and white. If you look at it month by month and in terms of
determining whether people are having a good or a bad experience then you will see that
each month there are more people searching than the previous month. That is caused by the
increase in sophis�ca�on of handsets available on the market and the reduc�on in the cost of
data tariffs. In addi�on, the number of searches per person is increasing also. More people,
making more searches on average each. Therefore you can see that the market is moving
forward. Ge�ng it to move forward faster relates to the ability to provide a good customer
user experience.
Search is experiencing huge growth but if consumers do not have a good experience then
they will use it a few �mes and then stop which is not good for the industry.
It is very hard for custom-built small mobile search engines to really compete against the
Yahoo! and Google brands. Perhaps a driving force behind advancing mobile search will be
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