See What I Say

Yahoo! Makes Mobile Search Faster And Easier With Voice Command
by: Jerry Liao

The search war is shifting from desktop to mobile devices with Google leading the desktop search space. But Yahoo! is not about to give the search battle to anyone in a silver platter. Yahoo! is putting up a fight and I must say – it’s a good fight.

Yahoo! Inc. recently unveiled Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0, a new version of its mobile search service. Key enhancements will allow users to initiate searches faster using text or voice. Yahoo! also plans to provide greater relevance through richer, more detailed search results by opening up Yahoo! oneSearch to publishers to integrate content, simplify search input with Search Assist and voice-enabled search, and make search instantly accessible on the idle screen of many phones. These innovations build on Yahoo!’s strategy to become the starting point for the most mobile consumers.

OPENING YAHOO! ONESEARCH: BETTER ANSWERS, NOT JUST WEB LINKS
Yahoo! took a major step forward in enhancing its popular Yahoo! oneSearch service by previewing plans to open up mobile search results to publishers and developers across the Internet. By enabling publishers to integrate relevant content into the Yahoo! oneSearch results, it is more likely that consumers will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for. Opening up Yahoo! oneSearch will:

– Turn web search results into answers – the usefulness of the results increase as more actual content is returned versus traditional web links
– Unlock the power of the Semantic Web – results integrate more helpful content, much that otherwise is not usually surfaced in search results
– Provide more relevant content – consumers receive richer information, into which they can dive deeply

Open search results are expected to debut with initial partners in Q2 2008.

YAHOO!’S MOBILE SEARCH ASSIST – MAKING SEARCH INPUT EASIER
Yahoo! oneSearch is simplifying mobile search by taking the pain out of typing search queries on mobile phones. Yahoo! oneSearch with Search Assist provides:

– Faster and easier input
– Predictive text completion
– Contextual recommendations

VOICE-ENABLED YAHOO! ONESEARCH – THE SIMPLEST WAY TO SEARCH
While Search Assist is easier than typing, talking is easier yet. To make that possible, Yahoo! is partnering with vlingo, a leading speech recognition company.

With the voice-enabled version of Yahoo! oneSearch, consumers can search for anything, including flight numbers, locations, Web site names, local restaurants, and more, by simply speaking. For example, a search query like “N-C-Double-A” instantly returns a rich set of results highlighting the latest tournament scores, upcoming game times, and breaking news. Whereas most mobile voice recognition systems are specific to vertical categories such as local listings, Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice lets consumers perform “wide open” searches – returning relevant results for practically every kind of query.

Consumers do not need to follow prompts and think about how to say a mobile search; with Yahoo! oneSearch they simply speak whatever they are looking for and have access to instant answers.

Key Features Include:
– Wide-open voice-enabled mobile search – Speak anything and get relevant results returned through oneSearch.
– Personalizes to your voice – Voice-enabled Yahoo! oneSearch adapts to your voice the more you use it.
– Multi-modal input – Allows users to switch between speaking and typing at any time, enabling consumers easy access to refine queries.

With the growing mobile users worldwide, Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0 with text or voice is definitely on the right track. Let’s see how the others will react to this new offering of Yahoo!.