InfoSpace Offers Free Mobile Local Search App for Apple iPhone; Takes On Google – And Wins – In Benchmark
White-label mobile search provider InfoSpace has had its Find It! Premium local search app on offer for a while – but it has wisely developed a more dynamic version for Apple iPhone (quite smart to be connected with what is sure to become an iconic mobile device.) More in this release and U.S.-based iPhone users with Safari browsers can get the mobile search app here.
Like the premium version, this mobile local search app offers users options (rather than a universal search box) and sorts listings from several search engines into six action-oriented categories (including Dine Out, Go Out, and Shop). InfoSpace has revamped the interface and presentation to make the most of the iPhone’s touchscreen, allowing users to “quickly gather relevant directory information with just a few taps.” As I’m in constant transit between my home in Germany and the Msearchgroove offices near London, I can’t judge the quality and relevance of InfoSpace search results for more than 35,000 U.S. cities. KUDOS to Eric Zemen at InformationWeek, who put mobile search service and Google to the test – and declared InfoSpace the winner. (Read his report here.)
He writes: “The nice thing about Find It! is that you don’t have to type anything except for the zip code. Once you have, it remembers that location and lists it as an option for future searches. Hitting the Dine Out button brings you to a short list of search options, such as all restaurants, Mexican and so on. I tapped all restaurants and watched as 50+ results popped up for my town. Five are listed at a time, and the distance and street address are clearly listed on the screen. Clicking on the name of a restaurant brings up its full address and phone number, which can be automatically dialed from the browser.”
Google, on the other hand, offered limited results with even more limited relevancy. “The Google results were limited to just 10 restaurants. Fully half of them were national fast-food chains. Find It listed nearly everything in the vicinity, and included a nice dose of local mom-and-pop type places. With Google, once the Google Maps application was opened, there was no “back” function to take you to the original results. You had to hit the “home” button on the iPhone and then re-open the browser. Find It’s maps remain in the browser page, and you can go back to previously viewed pages easily.”
Google may be the hands-down winner in the fixed Internet, but I’ve consistently argued the Internet search brands and portals will have to prove their stuff in the mobile space. Put another way, while search is clearly critical to monetizing content, operators and content providers shouldn’t shortchange themselves – or their users – by merely retrofitting Web search solutions for the mobile Internet. Even power search is powerless if the results and user experience disappoint.
Eric’s conclusion shows us again it’s clear that the ability to deliver the right results to the right users is the value proposition that will separate the mobile search leaders from the also-rans. Google isn’t a shoo-in – and there’s lots of room for white-label brands such as InfoSpace to flex their muscles.
