InfoSpace to Offer Mobile Search

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reprots that InfoSpace plans to announce "a new search technology that will make it easier for consumers to find restaurants, maps, driving directions and other information on their cell phones."

The subscription service will "integrate maps, business directories, restaurant guides and other information into a single application that can be quickly accessed on the go."

Mark Donovan at M:Metrics said, "That is an approach that we have not seen before and I think it has a chance of catching on." Donovan noted "that about 15.8 million people perform searches on a mobile phone in a month."

"We have yet to see a killer 'app' for mobile search. We are going to have to wait and see whether InfoSpace has cracked that code," Donovan added.

Neil Strother at NPD Group commented, "The mobile Internet is still painfully slow. If I am in a pinch and need directions, I will be probably just call someone. It has to be snappy fast. ..."