Microsoft Bing goes Mobile

As you know, Microsoft has been promoting its new search engine Bing aggressively for the past few weeks. As an important part of that promotion campaign, it has made Bing the official search engine of Verizon Wireless phones.

Microsoft signed a five-year deal with Verizon a few months back in an attempt to promote its new search engine to mobile users. According to the deal, Bing will be the default search engine of Verizon phones. Users will be able to check out the search engine from Verizon’s portal or through browsers like Opera. Also, it has been announced that a lot of high end phones from Verizon will come preloaded with Bing later this year.

So far, the response for this move has been quite good. According to the mobile media division of Microsoft, Bing handled nearly 19 million queries in the first 20 days which is a pretty good figure.

Interestingly, Microsoft has signed a deal with Hyatt as well. According to this deal, Microsoft will put ads on Verizon phones, upon clicking which the users will be directed to the hotel chain’s website. Verizon users will be able to book rooms, sign up for the hotel’s loyalty program, and check in through their mobile phones.

Rumor has it that Microsoft paid nearly $600 million for the deal with Verizon. Considering how hard Microsoft has been trying to compete with Yahoo and Google, two companies that have a very strong presence in the mobile industry, this comes as no surprise to me. It will be interesting to see how Bing copes with Yahoo Search and Google.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Microsoft, Mobile Web.

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Google AdWords on Mobile Phones

In an effort to reach out to mobile users, Google has come up with what in my opinion is a good idea. From now on, Google AdWords will be available on Apple iPhone and T Mobile G1 and other mobile phones with full HTML browsers.

From now on, if you buy AdWords, you can choose to have the same ads show up on mobile phones too. Thanks to this move, mobile advertisers will now be able to run specific mobile ad campaigns and get separate performance reports on them too. Google gives a few other options for advertisers as well. You can pick and choose the devices in which you want your ads to show up. Since this mobile version of AdWords supports only phones with full HTML browsers, you can have the same set of ads and landing pages show up on websites and mobile phones without modifying them in any way for mobile phones.

I think it is a good move by Google simply because it enables mobile advertisers come up with specific call-to-action ads which could have a very high CTR (click through rate). With Google starting to make inroads toward the mobile ad market, it will be interesting to see what Yahoo and Microsoft do to make their presence felt in the market. What do you guys think?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones.

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Mobile Advertising Company Gets $10.5 M Funding

Appterra, a California based mobile advertising company, was recently in news for two reasons.

1. It got $10.5 million in funding from Walden International, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Alloy Ventures.

2. David Karnstedt, a former Yahoo senior executive, joined its board of directors.

Appterra is known for its Voice & Visual MobileAd Marketplace which enables mobile advertisers serve voice ads accompanied by interactive visuals. The company has an impressive list of publishers including some big names like AOL, AT&T, movietickets.com, Jingle, MySpace, and Facebook.

Appterra has stated that the money will be used to improve its MobileAd Xchange program which helps mobile advertisers serve ads to end users. The company is also looking to expand its mobile advertising network further by joining hands with more publishers and advertisers. Moreover, David Karnstedt who joined the company recently brings a lot of experience with him and is expected to play a pivotal role in the operations.

Like I’ve stated many times in the past, it is always good to see a small company making big strides in the market. However, all these small companies need to understand that it isn’t going to be a smooth ride. With giants like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo striving to conquer the mobile advertising market, these companies should be judicious in their decisions and try to carve a niche for themselves. Like I already said, it’s going to be a multibillion dollar market. There is room for everyone. If you are smart enough, you can always find your audience.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Mobile search grew 68% last year - says research firm

The latest report from comScore says that mobile search is growing by leaps and bounds in the U.S. and Western Europe – a terrific 68% growth in the U.S. and 38% growth in Western Europe. The research firm says that mobile search has a huge future and these numbers could go up considerably in the coming years.

With the influx of high end phones like Apple iPhone and smart phones, mobile users find it easier to access the internet from their mobile phone. So, they use the search facility extensively. Experts say that the introduction of 3G has played a big role in the growth of mobile search. In fact, since the introduction of 3G, the number of mobile users in the U.S. that use the mobile search facility has doubled.

Now, let’s take a look at some numbers.

1. Between June 2007 and June 2008, around 21 million U.S. subscribers and 4.5 million European subscribers used the mobile search facility.

2. Google is the most important search provider for mobile phones. It has a 60% market share in mobile search around the world. It is followed by its fiercest competitor in the mobile space, Yahoo, which has a market share of around 35%. As you know, Google is the default search provider for Sprint and the iPhone and Yahoo is the default search provider for AT&T.

3. 9.5% of mobile users in the U.K. used the mobile search facility last year, which is unprecedented. In the U.S., around 9.2% of mobile users used the search facility.

If the mobile industry continues to grow at this rate, which it will, we can expect a lot more high end phones at affordable rates, cheaper and better data plans, and as a result, a huge increase in the number of people who use the mobile search facility.

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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Microsoft to buy mobile software company MobiComp

The game of mergers and acquisitions is on for sure. After Nokia’s successful acquisition of Symbian, it’s now Microsoft’s turn to get into the act. Microsoft announced a few days back that it will buy MobiComp, a Portugal based mobile software maker.

MobiComp is particularly known for its apps related to data protection and sharing. MobileKeeper Backup & Restore, an app which stores and backs up mobile data, and MobileKeeper Sharing & Communities, an app which connects the mobile phone with social networking communities on the web, are the two most important apps that Microsoft is said to be interested in integrating into its Windows Live Mobile.

Microsoft has not disclosed the cost of this acquisition and the terms of the deal.

I think this acquisition will do loads of good to Microsoft and will serve as a morale booster. Apple made news with 3G iPhone, Google is almost always in the news with Android, Yahoo is going great guns, and now Nokia has made headlines all over the world by buying Symbian. Microsoft needed something to get back into the limelight as far as the mobile market is concerned and it has come in the form of this acquisition. The competition, my friends, is only going to get more intense.

Categories: Microsoft.

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