January 09, 2007 | Tuesday

Yahoo & Google make big announcements in Vegas

By Jackie Danicki - Blogger in News |Search Engines |Google |Yahoo |Search Technology

No, they’re not on a post-holiday gambling bender with the competition - well, not officially, anyway. The Consumer Electronics Show is going on now in Las Vegas, and both Yahoo and Google have made mobile-related announcements which are attracting a lot of attention.

First, Yahoo: They’re teaming up with Motorola to launch mobile phones with built-in software - Yahoo Go 2.0, now available in beta to download - which aim to “bring the Internet to your phone, not the other way around,” according to Yahoo Connected Life vice president Marco Boerries. One of the major components of that software? You guessed it: search.

Yahoo has formed alliances with mobile telephone service carriers around the world to use the “oneSearch” service to make using the Internet on the move as easy as working from a desktop computer, Boerries said. “Yahoo oneSearch changes the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers’ access and use the Internet on their mobile phones,” he said. The devices are designed to detect users’ locations and provide local information ranging from weather reports to business and events listings along with other search results.

Google’s own alliance announcement - they’re joining forces with Samsung - is also heavy on the mobile search element:

Samsung mobile telephones equipped with Google software applications will enable users worldwide to search the Internet, check e-mail, and map routes, according to the companies. The mobile telephones will be designed with a Google icon on the option menu to allow a single click connection to Google search, G-mail, and maps...Samsung has already launched, the Ultra Edition 13.8, a combined camera mobile telephone with Google mobile search and G-mail. Samsung’s alliance with Google represents a commitment to “a ubiquitous world where mobile enables our consumers to access information about anything, anywhere, anytime,” the president of Samsung’s Telecommunication Network Business, Kitae Lee, said in a statement.