Google and Yahoo face each other in Momo panel — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{MobileMonday Toronto builds momentum} Google and Yahoo face each other in Momo panel

27 Sep 2006 at 05:57 GMT Timo Poropudas

Canadian representatives of Google and Yahoo face each other at the October meeting of MobileMonday Toronto chapter.

The upcoming October 2nd session will probably be MobileMonday Toronto’s most widely attended event, expects co-founder Alexander S. Bosika. The speakers from Google and Yahoo! participating in a moderated discussion panel around mobile search. Roger Skubowius (Google Canada) and Kristy Cook (Yahoo! Canada) each plan to answer some of the pressing questions surrounding mobile search.

The Toronto events have drawn people from all parts the mobile industry to network, share ideas and interact with discussion panels. Speakers for the events have included Canadian executives from Research in Motion, Palm, the dot Mobi initiative, including US-based executives from Singlepoint and July Systems.

Mobile search is the hot new buzzword in the mobile industry where context, content and location mean everything for end users seeking real-time information easily and conveniently.

The Internet’s leading brands have actively created their mobile search interfaces and have secured dedicated search functionality with some handset manufacturers even as Nokia develops its own search strategy. With several technical patents lined up, the mobile search industry has grown to include several startups focused on white-label search services designed for carriers in addition to SMS and voice-based services.

A December 2005 metric study by M:Metrics confirmed that 4 million unique users visited Yahoo’s mobile search interface while Google had slightly more at 4.5 million. This same study also confirmed that MSN and AOL were far behind at just over one million unique users with carriers trailing significantly with a mix of search platforms embedded into the handset operating system.