Google Launches Nokia Search App- Speed Is Focus

A new Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search application for Nokia (NYSE: NOK) phones makes getting to the search box and receiving results much faster, Google said Thursday on its blog. The app shortcut is embedded on the phone’s idle homescreen, so you can search without launching a browser.

Link.  Google is betting here that speed does matter.  Trying to pull up search results is a painful experience if you compare it to online and Google is directly addressing that here by looking at time to display search results as one of their ways to measure search user experience.  I think the video embedded in the story delivers a compelling message. 

The cost of surfing to google.com and then searching vs using the default search is much higher on mobile than on your computer.  If that cost structure does not change, then browsers and the deck will continue to hold immense value in mobile media. 

However, those costs are changing as we see evolution in handsets, mobile software (and OS), and wireless data speeds.  The carriers know this too.  As they try to compete with one another, they will use new handsets, faster speeds, and better software to try and steal share from one another.  Ironically, it’ll be these very things that erode the value of the deck.  And twenty years later, when they become the wireless versions of "dumb pipes", they’ll be mad at Google for making so much money off their infrastructure. 

Casual Gaming Is Already A $2.25B Business

This is according the the Casual Gaming Association. Via Venturebeat.

“Casual gaming” is loosely defined as anything easy to learn that doesn’t require a big time commitment, like Solitaire, Bejeweled or Diner Dash. Games like those have 200 million active players, and pull in $2.25 billion yearly, according to a new Casual Gaming Association report.

What Google Thinks The Future of Search Will Look Like

A good one for the "future of search" category:

". . . [W]e are moving from the Search Era (everything available with
the right query or question; a la Google search) to the Discovery Era
(the right information served up to you before you ask based on complex
algorithms, collaborative filtering, and historical data; a la the
Netflix Prize or Amazon’s suggestive selling engine) . . ."

Link to threadwatch.

Future of Search at Yahoo- Forget Panama, It’s All About Achieving Parity In Algorithmic Search

I did a search for integrating Google Co-Op with del.icio.us and came up with several links.  I did this to confirm that I’m not the only one using delicious wanting the added value of search functionality.  I’ve manually imported my bookmarks and created a custom Google Co-Op search and find it very useful. 

Why did I do this?  Because my tagging tends to suck in hindsight and search does a much better job of finding what I need, even when I have a listed of pre-filtered list of sites (my bookmarked sites).

It brings up an interesting question about the future of search–  tag driven social search has limitations.  However, in the last couple of years, Yahoo has invested heavily into social search.  Why?  Because with the growth of social networking sites and user generated content (ugc), it was easy for any aspiring visionary to point out that this would be the future of online media. 

The problem is that this stuff doesn’t currently monetize as well as algorithmic search and high quality contextual ad traffic.  Now everyone is trashing Yahoo and the company’s management doesn’t seem to have a clear strategy to get the company back on track. 

Every week, I have a new answer to "what I would do if I were running the show" and this week, I have a new one– 

• Improve their algorithmic search product.  If it’s not possible to compete with Google, then maybe it makes sense to go back to using Google as an algorithmic search provider. 
• Market their search and use their own Overture / YSM to monetize.  Partnerships, toolbar distribution, and free content in exchange for search share.
• Leverage competitive advantages to expand search share– for example, give users the option to install Yahoo toolbar in exchange for access to premium content and services. 

Note that research analysts have previously suggested that Yahoo use Adwords if Panama doesn’t work out.  I’m not a fan of that idea.  I think Yahoo has some great stuff (news, finance, sports, fantasy sports) where they have a huge competitive advantage.  If a Yahoo toolbar offered search results (algorithmic) that were as good as Google’s, but Yahoo offered free access to premium content (like stat tracker for fantasy sports), there would be no reason why I wouldn’t have Yahoo toolbar installed and use it as my primary search provider.  StatTracker brings in $9.99 a year per user for Yahoo.  But if Gates is right and "‘Google is getting about $50 per year for your searching," the economics make a lot of sense. 

However, achieving parity with Google in algorithmic search is key, and Google is building a huge competitive advantage there.  All that crap about Project Panama and monetizing problems is b.s.  That’s my BCG grade strategic advice that I’m giving away for free today because I’m in a good mood. 

No Search Box On Ask.com’s Mobile Homepage

Google Blogoscoped is perplexed by Doug Leeds, VP of produce management at Ask.com:

Ask Mobile is designed specifically for search on mobile devices, instead of shoehorning a PC interface into a mobile product (…) Extensive testing showed that, by eliminating the search box from the home page and instead providing links to key search services, users were more successful in getting to what they were looking for, significantly increasing their satisfaction.

I guess this makes some sense.  If you head over to Google Blogoscoped, you’ll see a screenshot of what Ask.com’s Mobile page looks like.  When I use my mobile search, sometimes I’m looking for directions, sometimes I’m looking for business listings, and sometimes I want regular old web search.  By pre-screening and asking the user to choose what type of data he/she is looking for, I can see how the resulting user experience would be better.

Google Using London As Hub For Mobile Operations

Google plans to use London as the center of its mobile operations since the US is so behind in wireless. 

Google is reorganising the way it presents search results on the internet to conform better with mobiles, according to Deep Nishar, the company’s director of wireless products. It is also testing dozens of new search-related products to be used solely on mobile phones and other pocket-sized wireless devices.

I guess those of us in the states will have to hear about the mobile content revolution on our computers at home or visit UK, Korea, or Japan to witness it firsthand.  

Examining the reaction to Google Spreadsheets

Om Malik has a post asking his users whether Google is “Wasting Its Genius Cycles?“  Its a relevant question, but I was unsatisfied the the options on his poll.  What we are seeing is the result of Google’s r&d model, where Sergey and Larry have replicated an atmosphere in which they came up with their search engine.  Every engineer is expected to informally spend a chunk of their time working on side projects but structured innovating is hard thing to do and only a handful of companies have mastered it. 

Google Spreadsheet is just another one of these side projects that’s good enough to go beta.  Will it revolutionize the web?  Not likely, but Google can’t give up on their r&d model, especially since Wall Street is betting that Google will continue to innovate (big).

Google Co-op Means Search Race Is No Longer Man Vs. Machine

If you haven’t heard yet, get some background on Google Co-op at the Googleblog:

Google Co-op is a way for users to help us improve search. It lets people and organizations label web pages and create specialized links related to their unique expertise. Whether it’s information about a hobby, a profession, or an unusual interest, everyone can contribute to making Google search more relevant and useful for the entire community.

Or check out Google Blogoscoped for a more detailed post.

I haven’t commented on Google Co-op yet because it totally messes up the way I had the search arms race bucketed in my mind–  back when media coverage focused on the Google Vs. Yahoo search arms race, it was a battle between machine vs. man.  Google was all about trying to solve the search problem using a technology based solution.  Meanwhile, Yahoo had good technology but felt that the future of search would be in social search.   They pushed out the My Web products, embraced tagging, and bought del.icio.us and flickr. 

Now Google announced Co-op, which allows a human element to customize their search results, check the intro sentence from the website:

Google Co-op is about sharing expertise. You can contribute your expertise and benefit when others do the same. Help other users find information more easily by creating “subscribed links” for your services and labeling webpages around the topics you know best.

I guess Google has enough engineers where they can play dabble in everything their competitors are doing to hedge their bets.

Related:
Google going vertical- Marketwatch
Google announces social search products- Niall Kennedy

All The Buzz About Google Vs. Microsoft, Where Does Yahoo Stand?

Just yesterday, I asked where Yahoo stands in the Google Vs. Microsoft Arms Race.  Today I’m hearing from the WSJ that a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is being promoted by one faction within Microsoft.  It doesn’t sound like the idea has too much support yet. 

Currently, talks of an equity stake in Yahoo don’t appear to be active, given that Microsoft is focusing on a reorganization that it hopes will re-energize its effort to compete with Google, the fast-growing provider of search services and advertising.

The article goes on to interview a few pissed off portfolio managers

Some investors are growing increasingly impatient with Microsoft’s spending to compete with Google head-on. "Chasing Google in search is a waste of money,"

To an extent, many assume that search will be commoditized in the near future (although its still looking a long ways off at this point).  I am still part of this camp so I think Microsoft should be spending the money to play catch up.  With the money that Microsoft has committed to search / paid search / contextual, I can’t see them giving up on their current strategy of going it alone. 

Microsoft vs. Google- Its An Official Arms Race

NYTimes picked up on the Microsoft vs. Google arms race meme.  Its a great mainstream article that also introduces the “network is the computer” theme that Google is moving forward with:

Now Google is starting to move directly into Microsoft’s core market. It recently acquired Writely, a Web-based word processor.

How
far Google can eat into Microsoft’s software franchise is uncertain.
But Microsoft fears that Google could become a kind of operating system
of the Internet in the same way that Windows is the dominant operating
system of personal computing.

Where does Yahoo stand in all this?  Not sure if it has to pick a side or just wait on the sidelines until this battle is finished, but Jeremy Zawodny posts his own thoughts on Google’s fuss over IE7′s default search settings.