Mobile Search

Xiaobin ZhengApril 13 th, 2010

OutlineMobile searchMobile WebTypes of servicesCase Study:• Google Search for mobile• Yahoo! Search for mobile

ConclusionFigure 1. Example Mobile Search Engine

1.Mobile Search:Search on mobile devicesSearch contents on Mobile WebMore and more market with Web 2.0 app.

and 3GCan the traditional Search Engines apply

directly? Answer: No. Limitations, different features

& needs.Different types

Comparisons:Web Search: Mobile Search:PC basedMore bandwidthVarious Topic

Large amount of resources available on the web

More keywords and returned results

Mobile devices basedBandwidth limitedUsually in some specific

areasResources limited by

devices and limited resources on Mobile web

Less keywords, results easy to scroll

2.Mobile Web: OverviewDefinition: using a mobile handheld device to

access the world wide webUsing WAP to deliver contents to mobile

devicesResources limited by Browsers and OS on the

phoneSometimes need proxy/gateways

WAP: Wireless App. ProtocolWeb pages on Mobile web specifically

designed Mobile device access contents using WAPWAP browsers can only access pages written

in XHtml and WML rather than HTMLLimitations comes! WAP 1.0 -> WAP 2.0

Relations between markup languages:

Figure 2. relations between html, XHtml and WML

Mobile Web: LimitationsScreen sizeBandwidth and speed message size and

page sizeOnly one page can be displayed at a timeDifficult to navigateNo support of scripting languageLimited types of pages accessible: XHtml and

WML Thus need specific designs.

3. Different types: 3.1 Two types of mobile search: By sourceMobile web search Web(Internet) based

searchreturns only WAP pages

Benefit: easy to apply

Limitations: Not so many quality pages;Outdated and dead links;

Pages filtered from internet and converted to supported types

Benefit: rich resources

Limitations: Need the web search

engine and phone carrier to coorperate with each other;

3.2 Types of web search service: Early days: SMS: short message service (weather, flights)

using text message requestsMMS: multi-media message service

(ringtones, wallpapers and small videos)Now:Web search and media search by browsingLocation based service (restaurants, theaters,

transportation)

4.Case study:

1. Yahoo! Search for mobile

Figure 3. Yahoo! Search for Mobile

Features: • Location based service provided• Internet(based)• Personalized search

Figure 4. Yahoo! Search for Mobil (2)

Case study 2:Google Search for Mobile Main site: Location based: Images:

Figure 5. Google Search for Mobile

Similarities:Provide location based services Need to support HTML pagesSupport personalized settingsMulti media search

Who wins ?

Market stat.:

From “State of the Mobile Web”, Jon von Tetzchner, Opera Software, January 2010

Figure 6. Statistics in US on Jan. 2010

Applications built on Mobile SearchExample: Apple Application

iQ Mobile Search: a tool to search popular search engines

Figure 7. IQ Mobile Search tool

5. Conclusion:Market growing fastMobilityLimitationsLocation based servicesMore applicationsAdvertisingNew markup language?New Service Model? Security

Thank you! Questions?