Sunnyvale, California-based Web pioneer Yahoo, the second-most-used Internet search engine, has expanded  its OneSearch software with voice and text recognition features to make Web searching easier and more useful for mobile phone users, the company announced Wednesday at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) Wireless trade show in Las Vegas. The move is Yahoo's latest push in its battle with search leader Google and the world's biggest software maker Microsoft for control of the growing mobile Internet market, and comes as it faces an unknown future with Microsoft seeking to buy it through an unsolicited bid. Yahoo One Search 2.0 mobile phone users will be able to turn on their device and speak a phrase or word to receive search results, Yahoo said. Expanded Mobile Search Listings Yahoo mobile chief Marco Boerries said upgrades to his firm's OneSearch 2.0 cell phone software will help  mobile consumers realize a new online potential by bringing them more content from Web sites and allowing them to search using a combination of voice and text commands. "We all agree that the mobile Internet opportunity is massive. The key question is how to enable the supporting mobile ecosystem in order to realize its full potential," Boerries said Wednesday. "This is really a sea change. This is not about simple Web links any more," Boerries added in an interview before delivering his keynote address at the CTIA show. "With Yahoo!'s technical expertise, monetization experience, and strength in developing innovative popular consumer services, we believe we are extremely well-positioned to be a positive driving force. We are playing an increasingly essential role in helping the ecosystem's constituents overcome some of the biggest challenges that have limited its growth to date," Boerries added. The new version of OneSearch allows Web content providers to build Yahoo's search program into the mobile versions of their Web sites in much the same way that they have been doing for years on sites for land-based Internet access, said Yahoo, which holds the top spot worldwide as a provider of mobile applications. A Reach Potential of 600 Million Mobile Consumers With a goal of reaching 750 million mobile Internet users, Yahoo has forged partnerships with some 29 mobile operators worldwide that have combined to increase its present reach to some 600 million consumers, Yahoo said, as it hopes to grow in a mobile playing field where advertising revenue is expected to increase threefold to $4.8 billion by 2011, according to research company eMarketer. The voice recognition technology Yahoo has incorporated into its upgraded OneSearch mobile software represents a sizable advance from implementations Google has offered since 2002 and Microsoft since 2007, Boerries made clear Wednesday. OneSearch will use voice-activation software exclusively licensed from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Vlingo Corp., a two-year-old start-up that said Wednesday Yahoo has taken a leading role in a $20 million funding round, along with investors Sigma Partners and Charles River Ventures. "We liked the technology so much that we invested in the company," Boerries noted at a post-keynote speech press event. "But we made sure that our competitors can't use it," he added. The voice controlled services offered by the new OneSearch will provide greater flexibility than Google's ad-supported GOOG-411 category-based local business listings service that launched in September 2007, Yahoo said. A Slew of Mobile Search Input Options While Google's voice recognition service enables consumers to call businesses for free and receive directions via email by calling 1.800.GOOG.411, Yahoo said that its OneSearch allows for more free form searches for  additional Web information such as sporting event start times, airline flight schedules and news headlines. Another departure for Yahoo comes in the form of Web searches that may be conducted by using voice commands spoken into a mobile phone, by typing on the device's keys, or even a combination of the two, with OneSearch making suggestions which could save time speaking or typing, Boerries said. Although the Vlingo voice recognition technology will adapt and learn from a user's voice, Yahoo said the new OneSearch allows consumers to find useful search results no matter how the search terms are pronounced. Yahoo expects to launch voice search in English during July and August, while users of Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices such as the Curve and Pearl can presently try out a preview version. Other mobile platforms will be able to access the preview in the future, said Boerries, who expects the upgraded OneSearch service to be available internationally on over 500 different mobile devices by the end of 2008. Framework Shared With SearchMonkey OneSearch 2.0 builds on advances made in Yahoo's desktop PC-based search application, known as "Search Monkey," and the firm expects around 1,000 Web content publishers to use the shared application programming interfaces (APIs) in common with both, Boerries said. Another new feature of OneSearch 2.0 called Search Assistant, presently available only to Apple iPhone users, will use typing recognition logic to make searches faster by deducing possible words from the first letters a user types in, Yahoo said. Boerries noted a speed advantage OneSearch 2.0's voice service offers, with much of the processing requirement shifted from the mobile phone to Yahoo's remote servers. Voice searches can take as few as five seconds on a fast mobile network, and up to 20 seconds on slower networks, Boerries said. Yahoo Expands Mobile Phone Software, Adds Voice Search By the second quarter of 2008 Yahoo expects to incorporate a service putting OneSearch on the main mobile phone screen for most devices, a feature it calls an "idle screen search service," aimed at speeding up the search process by eliminating the need to load a mobile Web browser to enter  queries, Yahoo said. Google launched a similar feature for mobile devices in March. Yahoo is working with phone manufacturers Samsung, LG Electronics, and Motorola to place the OneSearch application on their phone's default idle screens, while Nokia has already committed to offering it as a download on the Nokia Series 60 phones, Boerries said. Yahoo is also working with 29 mobile service providers worldwide to integrate its upgraded OneSearch 2.0 application. "With the launch of Yahoo OneSearch in 2007, we revolutionized mobile search by recreating search specifically for the mobile phone," Boerries told the CTIA audience during his keynote. "With Yahoo OneSearch 2.0, we are fundamentally changing the way consumers use the Internet on their mobile phones," he added. Related Links:
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10:30 pm on April 3, 2008 (utc 0)