sarettah
09-28-2005, 07:55 PM
http://www.computing.co.uk/vnunet/news/2142939/mobile-operators-fear-google
Mobile operators fear the Google effect
Operators battle to keep users inside their networks
29 Sep 2005
Mobile operators are scrambling to battle Google over who provides search on their mobile networks, a panel of Asian and European operators said at the CTIA Mobile IT and Entertainment tradeshow said in San Francisco.
"Search is the key battleground," said Graeme Ferguson, Vodafone's director of Global Content Development.
Wireless customers today mainly visit pages inside the operator's networks, limiting search queries to get content that isn't available there, such as porn, said Dacey.
"As consumers become more educated and stop taking the path of least resistance, they will use search more often to get to content," Matt Dacey, head of Content for O2, told vnunet.com.
Mobile search engines typically don't use advertising, but will include sponsored listings in the results that they present to their users. Having users visit the operator's search engine not only gives them the sponsor revenue, it also allows the phone companies to lead them to their own premium services that can generate additional revenue such as sales of ringtones.
"Carriers hate accurate search," said JH Kah, vice president of global for South Korea Telecom. "Then you just end up at the content."
There are several mobile search engine that license out their technology to operators. O2 for instance uses technology provided by Motionbridge, a French provider.
The doom scenario for mobile operators is illustrated by the faillure of internet providers in competing with search portals. Provider portals have become worthless now that their customers are using independent search engines such as Google and Yahoo. They have been reduced to a provider of network connections.
"We are keen to avoid being reduced to a dump pipe," explained Dacey.
The O2 manager pointed out that in Germany and Austria T-Mobile has already given up the battle against Google, where the engine has become the default search provider on T-Mobile's network.
Google's mobile search technology either works by sending a text message to the search engine with a query, or by visiting a specially formatted version of the engine on the Google website.
Vodaphone's Ferguson however argued that Google Mobile for now is mainly a marketing offensive.
"Google is very aggressive, but they don't have a product."
Mobile operators fear the Google effect
Operators battle to keep users inside their networks
29 Sep 2005
Mobile operators are scrambling to battle Google over who provides search on their mobile networks, a panel of Asian and European operators said at the CTIA Mobile IT and Entertainment tradeshow said in San Francisco.
"Search is the key battleground," said Graeme Ferguson, Vodafone's director of Global Content Development.
Wireless customers today mainly visit pages inside the operator's networks, limiting search queries to get content that isn't available there, such as porn, said Dacey.
"As consumers become more educated and stop taking the path of least resistance, they will use search more often to get to content," Matt Dacey, head of Content for O2, told vnunet.com.
Mobile search engines typically don't use advertising, but will include sponsored listings in the results that they present to their users. Having users visit the operator's search engine not only gives them the sponsor revenue, it also allows the phone companies to lead them to their own premium services that can generate additional revenue such as sales of ringtones.
"Carriers hate accurate search," said JH Kah, vice president of global for South Korea Telecom. "Then you just end up at the content."
There are several mobile search engine that license out their technology to operators. O2 for instance uses technology provided by Motionbridge, a French provider.
The doom scenario for mobile operators is illustrated by the faillure of internet providers in competing with search portals. Provider portals have become worthless now that their customers are using independent search engines such as Google and Yahoo. They have been reduced to a provider of network connections.
"We are keen to avoid being reduced to a dump pipe," explained Dacey.
The O2 manager pointed out that in Germany and Austria T-Mobile has already given up the battle against Google, where the engine has become the default search provider on T-Mobile's network.
Google's mobile search technology either works by sending a text message to the search engine with a query, or by visiting a specially formatted version of the engine on the Google website.
Vodaphone's Ferguson however argued that Google Mobile for now is mainly a marketing offensive.
"Google is very aggressive, but they don't have a product."