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Seattle-based MedioSystems is aiming to become the Google of mobile search. One of many startups competing with Google and Yahoo for the potentially lucrative market of connecting consumers with compelling content on their mobile phones, Medio has a unique advantage. Brian Lent, co-founder and CEO of Medio Systems, in 1994, along with Sergey Brin, helped found Stanford’s MIDAS (Mining Data at Stanford) group, which would later spawn the Google crawler and search engine.
In addition to a solid management team that includes Lent, along with wireless veteran and Mforma co-founder David Bluhm, Medio advocates a unique approach to the problem of helping consumers finding content on the 2-inch screens of their mobile phones. Their work has already attracted Nokia’s attention, which recently began installing their search tool on its Series 60 smart phones. Recently, Lent sat down with MocoNews.net to discuss Medio’s approach to mobile search, how it’s different from those of Google and Yahoo, and the difficulties of indexing and delivering unstructured data on a mobile phone.
Highlights:» Medio revenue model based on two ways of generating money: Initially, Medio will work a revenue share with the carrier for all content discovered and sold through Medio. Eventually move towards pay-per-performance ad-supported model for mobile.» Google and Yahoo are taking a subset of the Internet and mapping that down for mobile (cramming the Internet onto a cellphone)» Will offer Medio as white label search service to wireless carriers» Databases include: Sabre system for travel information, Weather Channel, carrier content libraries» UI is key: Medio is considering cross-licensing their user experience technology to other major search players» Look at Amazon.com for quality of purchase process for buying books, etc to get an idea of how Medio purchase system will work» Carrier decks are limited, the explosion of mobile content is driving carrier interest in search to find off-deck content» Focused on North America for now; focus overseas in next six months» Series 60 users can download the Medio client at www.nokia.com/mobilesearch» Read the article at MocoNews.net