Mobile Search Tool Helps Out Cell-Phone UsersMobile Search Tool Helps Out Cell-Phone Users

Mobile search is on the move.

Fast Search & Transfer ASA last week introduced Fast mSearch, designed to help find content that's relevant and functional for cell phones and PDAs.

MSearch will be marketed to telecommunications companies that will then offer it to their customers. While mobile users can do Internet searches today with tools such as Google Short Message Service, the market for search customized for mobile content is just emerging.

Mobile users aren't getting what they need from available search options, contends Mike Brady, senior director of business development at Fast. "While there may not be a lot of clamor amongst users saying, 'I've got to get mobile search,' there's a sense that people can't find their ring tones, their games, and their images."

X.J. Wang, a Yankee Group analyst, sees the potential in mobile search because it can leverage the personal information--valuable for delivering more relevant results--that mobile networks already have in subscriber files.

Brian Lent, president and co-founder of Medio Systems Inc., a mobile search startup, also sees mobile search's potential. Noting the ability to deliver location-based services through wireless networks, he says: "It's a whole different universe for search."