Getting More Mileage Out Of Local Mobile Search
On the heels of its re-branding World Directories, a leading local search and advertising company operating across seven countries is poised to shake up the mobile search space with new ideas, new business models and new content offerings. Convinced local mobile search should give users more than wireless access to local listings and directions, World Directories is pushing the boundaries to deliver users easy access to a relevant mix of mobile content including news, sports, and entertainment such as images, wallpapers and ringtones. But it’s not just about offering a breadth of content; it’s about providing users a superior wireless application. To deliver on this vision World Directories has partnered with mobilePeople.
The tie-up enables World Directories to aggregate content, attract advertisers and provide users a choice between accessing the directory services from a browser or via text message. More importantly, World Directories now has the capabilities mix to offer local directory search and content via mobile operator portals and as a stand-alone offer. Greg Ellis, World Directories Managing Director responsible for Search & Online, talks about World Directories’ plans, partnership and potential tensions in the local mobile search value chain.

Question: Until now World Directories has had an SMS-based mobile search query service. What is new about your local mobile search offering and how have you improved the user experience?

Ellis: The SMS service was primarily built around Yellow Pages content. Going forward, we believe users will want access to a breadth of information and content, which is why we will extend beyond Yellow Pages content to offer White Pages content, as well as Wikipedia and news content, such as sports, breaking news and current events based on what interests the individual user. We can offer this through partnerships with newspapers and news organization that we’ll be announcing shortly. We’ll also offer entertainment content – including wallpapers and ringtones.

Users can search local directory information or users can search all the categories of content and information. The point is: users have choice and they have a lot to choose from. Providing this breadth will allow us to compete effectively with companies like Google and Yahoo! It’s all about building a comprehensive user-focussed application – in which Yellow Pages and White Pages is a huge part. That’s what users have told us they wanted [in focus groups].

Question: White Pages information is about finding people. Are you gearing up to make social search a part of your offer?

Ellis: Yes. If you limit your offer to Yellow Pages, then you’re ultimately limiting your appeal to users. Users today want a well-rounded application and that means offering a range of content and an even wider range of functionality. We envision that finding people and connecting with people will be a huge part of the attraction of mobile search. In preparation for this we are offering access to Wikipedia, which is about searching for people as well as things. In about 6 months time you’ll see us launch our first social networking applications.

Question: Social search is undeniably an important part of the mix. But search is – at its core – the interface to a myriad of content and services. What are chief components of a compelling mobile search service?

Ellis: As an underlying principle, the search results must be relevant. On top of that we believe it’s important to focus on four value-ads. One, we employ technology to estimate the user’s location. Knowing proximity allows us to deliver more relevant results and become quite granular in the nearby locations and listings we deliver.

Two, we make sure that the user can interact with the results. That means enabling a call to action – allowing users to make a telephone call, send an email, surf the Web. There will be a high degree of interactivity – even more than what is possible on the [fixed] Internet today and we have to empower users to explore that.

Three, we have to encourage social networking and allow users to connect not just with the content and results, but with themselves as well. It’s early days, but we must begin by providing features and functions that allow users to send content and results to a list of peers or be able to find and locate their friends when they’re out and about.

Finally, we must offer mapping and give the user a geographical point of reference from which to undertake the search query or to refine the search query.

Question: You’ve chosen to develop a Java application with mobilePeople. Can you outline the importance of offering a client and the significance of your partnership with mobilePeople?

Ellis: We’ll be ready to launch our Java app in July. While it may be more difficult to distribute since it requires the user to download it, it is nonetheless the approach that delivers the best search experience in the end. A few months after we launch the client we will follow up with a branded WAP site.

It’s our intention to be integrated within the Vodafone Live! portal in several countries. There will be two options: operators can direct visitors to their portal to where they can download our local mobile search application and they can link to our WAP site from their portal, when we launch the destination under our new brand. No matter which option operators choose, there will be a revenue share opportunity for the carrier. That’s at the heart of what we do; it makes no sense to by-pass the carrier in this model.

As I said, usability and relevance are at the heart of a good mobile search service and at the center of what we do. Our partnership with mobilePeople allows us to deliver an application that delivers on both counts. But they have delivered more than a mobile platform; they are assisting us with a long list of features and functionality that differentiate us from others in the space. If a user scrolls down in the results and wants to make a phone call to a listing, mobilePeople provides the ability to make that call and track that call through the network. The company also assist us with mapping and helps aggregate some of the premium content services we offer in addition to search.

Question: There’s a great deal of excitement and even greater expectations surrounding the market for mobile advertising. Do you share this enthusiasm?

Ellis: Absolutely. It’s not clear if we’ll use mobilePeople as we have our own ad-serving capabilities – but it’s clear that we’ll do advertising within our application. The one thing directory companies do well is sell. We see opportunities to sell advertising within our application that is linked to proximity-based listings, for example. What’s more, we have the capabilities to approach the carriers and offer to run their banner advertising within their wireless portals on a revenue share basis.

Question: Ad selling and serving is your expertise as a directory services provider. But it also the space Google and others are aggressively targeting with their mobile offers.

Ellis: We are competitors to Search engines, which is why it’s so important to have a well-rounded and reliable wireless application that appeals to both users and will allow us to be easily integrated within the operators’ mobile portals. We need to be fast-movers and mobilePeople has allowed us to be quick on our feet.

Many of the online directory companies went to sleep on search and many of the search engine providers lost the plot along the way as well. Google stayed passionate about search and is a formidable competitor for everyone in the industry. But it’s a competitive world and we have a competitive offer that fulfils all the requirements for superior search – mapping, relevancy, ease of use and a mix of mobile content – that will place us an important step ahead of Google and Yahoo! when they try to get their foot in the door across the geographies we cover.
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