Google Stresses Mobility

location based services

Deals with Nokia, Research In Motion and others, as well as recent enhancements to its bread-and-butter mobile search and Gmail applications, as well as other information sources (including maps), and experiments in wireless advertising, has made it clear that Google is strongly interested in the wireless sector. The Times of London reports the Internet search engine company's focus on mobility is more than simply a passing fancy. It is, according to senior executives, the next big phase in Google's development.
Google goes so far as to tell The Times that the mobile sector will become the principal driver of growth in the future. Leading the mobile charge is VP of European Operations Nikesh Arora, a former T-Mobile executive.
Deep Nishar, the company’s director of wireless products, said the search giant is testing dozens of new search technologies, in its effort to better present search results on cell phones, smartphones, PDAs and other Pocket-sized devices.
He used the example of typing the word "film" in a BBC article to show how, in the context of search, what needs to be addressed to improve performance. Type the word in a PC browser and you get the Internet Movie Database, do the same in mobile browser and you get an actual movie.
That's because context (PC or mobile device) means a lot. "Search on mobiles is about finding not browsing," Nishar explained to the BBC. It's also about finding that information quickly. This means Google must alter the way it parses data for people who are on the move, so as to tailor it to them quickly.
He added that mobile devices are far more personal than PCs. "A PC is much more of a shared device," he said to the BBC. "But a mobile is not something I share with anyone."
According to Nishar, all one needs to do is look at the world around us to see why Google is directing so much of it resources (he wouldn’t say how much) towards mobility.
“In India, mobile-phone ownership outweighs PC ownership by a ratio of two to one. And there are five million more mobile-phone users coming online every month. By the end of this year there will be more mobile phones in India than in America," Nishar said.
Throw in China, where there's more handsets (3x) than PCs, Britain, where there's one phone per person, or Scandinavia, where there's twice that number per individual, and you'll have a future where people will want to access Web information with the device they have on their person, according to Nishar.
In addition, "There are many emerging markets where people do not have a PC and will never have one," Nishar said to the BBC. In these places, mobile handsets are so popular for accessing Web-based information because they are so much cheaper than desktop computers. Related Links:
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