Mobile Search: In Search Of Relevance

It is still early days for the European mobile search market. Despite an increase in mobile search adoption in Europe, it is still far from reaching the mass-market adoption levels of PC-based search. As a result, advertisers' spend has remained limited. However, mobile search is emerging as a key discovery tool for accessing the growing number of off-portal mobile Web sites and the increasing number of services launched in the burgeoning mobile application store ecosystem. As mobile search will grow in line with mobile Internet adoption, consumer product strategists should prepare to optimize their mobile Web sites and applications and leverage the emergence of vertical-search options. They need to work closely with interactive marketers to define the ROI they can realistically expect when establishing their overall mobile Internet presence.