Mobile internet users resident in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam can now take advantage of a beta version of Yahoo! oneSearch on their mobile device, one of the flagship features of the recently updated Yahoo! Go mobile search application. The application is designed to make it easy to access Yahoo!'s web, news, finance, weather, mobile web, Flickr and image search results on any mobile web browser.
Yahoo! has recently signed a number of high profile deals with mobile device manufacturers, such as Nokia and HTC. But this latest drive has effectively cut out the middleman and implemented Yahoo! technology for use on any recent cell phone, mobile PC or PDA. The launch of the Yahoo! oneSearch service in Canada and Europe not long ago was the first step in expanding its user base of mobile search technology.
The push into Asia and beyond is seen as yet another aggressive drive by Yahoo! to get their innovative technology into the hands of everyday mobile users. In countries like India and Vietnam, the mobile network is a lifeline for many, with traditional landline phone networks not reaching remote villages and towns where cell phone coverage is a lot cheaper to implement.
Originally launched in March 2007, the Yahoo! oneSearch service is designed to present actual information relevant to the user's search, whether that is local news headlines, business listings or local weather. A good example of its functionality is in cinema listings: instead of simply showing reviews or popular movie sites in a search for a film, Yahoo! oneSearch will list local cinemas that are playing the movie, any user generated ratings, as well as any news headlines related to the movie. All oneSearch needs is a postal code or zip code to serve up results that are local to the user.
Yahoo! oneSearch will undoubtedly receive a lot of attention over the next few months as the functionality of the service is tweaked and improved. Moreover, the drive to release the service to other countries in the future will likely gain momentum as we move into the second half of 2007.
