A story about how Google is as much in the dark about what works on mobile as the rest of us. The sheer size of the mobile market therefore makes it an extremely attractive target for Google, says the story, and Google’s approach to exploiting the mobile opportunity so far has followed the same principle as its more general approach to new markets: try everything.
Wap search, phone access to its services. Limited, one-off deals with mobile operators, like T-Mobile in Europe. Formal partnerships with mobile operators, this one with Vodafone, whereby Google will replace the white-label search engine in Vodafone’s Live! content portal. Also with Opera Mini as the default search.
The current lack of uniformity reflects the currently immature state of the mobile internet itself, the story says. “The common thread running through everything that Google is trying is the fact that in future, it needs to rely less on search; more on stickier services and new sources of revenue.”
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