Search engine provider Yahoo! has revealed it is opening up its mobile service oneSearch.According to a company statement, the move to oneSearch 2.0 will mean that publishers will be able to integrate content. It will also make search "instantly accessible" on the idle screen of many phones and simplify search input - with the addition of Search Assist and voice-enabled search.
Yahoo! says its decision to open up oneSearch is intended to provide users with greater relevance by offering "richer" and "more detailed" browsing results.
Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Connected Life at Yahoo!, said: "With Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0, we are fundamentally changing the way consumers use the internet on their mobile phones."
The Search Assist feature is designed to reduce the time it takes users to enter queries, as well as provide them with a predictive text completion option.
Yahoo! states: "For instance, a consumer searching for information about Hillary Clinton can just type 'hil' and search assist will instantly suggest 'Hillary Clinton', along with the other most common search terms containing those letters."
Meanwhile, in order to provide users with voice-enabled search, Yahoo! is partnering with speech-recognition company vlingo.
Commenting on the development, the Washington Post stated: "Opening up OneSearch is just the latest attempt by Yahoo! to make strides in the mobile internet through openness."
It added: "Yahoo! has been aggressively pushing its presence on mobile phones, which could prove a potent market for advertising and content alongside the PC-based internet."
