Mobile Search V2 released - Improved Navigation, Cache, Movie Searching, GPS, Traffic reporting and more!
The Mobile Search team has released V2 of the rich client application for Windows Mobile, as well as a major update to the browser based interface. Whether you have a J2ME (Java) …
Context & Ripple Effects
This release lands four months after Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 arrived on Windows Mobile in March 2007, and weeks after Yahoo declared its own client out of beta and 'in primetime' in June. The Mobile Search team's answer is a two-pronged push: a richer native client for Windows Mobile and a major browser-based update that extends reach to J2ME Java handsets.
The feature set — GPS positioning, traffic reporting, movie searching, better caching and navigation — signals that the contest between the two portals has moved from mere availability on smartphones to which client can make search location-aware and useful away from the desk.
First-order effects
- Windows Mobile users get a free upgrade path to GPS-aware, traffic-reporting local search inside the rich client, while J2ME Java device owners gain access through the updated browser interface for the first time.
- Yahoo!'s Go for Mobile 2.0 now faces a directly comparable rival client on the same Windows Mobile platform it spent 2007 establishing itself on.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo! is pressed to match the location features — GPS and live traffic — or cede the 'search near me' use case on shared carrier devices.
- Carriers and handset makers choosing a default mobile search client gain a second credible option, shifting bundle-negotiation leverage away from any single portal.
Third-order effects
- If both portals keep investing in native clients, mobile search consolidates around installed applications with sensor access rather than generic browser queries — making GPS and traffic data the durable differentiators.
- The J2ME browser play points toward a split market: rich clients for smartphone platforms, lightweight web fallbacks for the long tail of Java feature phones.
The trend: Portal-era search rivals are racing to own the mobile client itself, with location awareness replacing raw index quality as the competitive wedge on phones.