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In brief: In line with MSearchGroove's ongoing and in-depth look at smart toolbars, personalized portals and the players that set the bar for these technologies, regular columnist and contributor Jim Levey shows a robust economic system (and new content distribution model) is emerging with personalization at its core. It is no secret that the success of well-known Internet portals, whether they’re oriented towards mass media or are vertically driven, is content that is fresh and personalized. These portals have developed large online communities by empowering users with self-service tools that enable them to create their own personalized homepages chock full of content that is dynamic, up-to-date and consistently relevant to their preferences. This is achieved thanks to widgets that interoperate with specific applications such as search, weather, finance and social networks. Fast forward and it's the same model in mobile – although mobile markets in Europe and Asia have stolen the lead on North America (at least for now). Why are operators outside the U.S. so far ahead in the delivery of content experiences that users appreciate? In my view, mobile operators, particularly in Europe, have embraced path-breaking personalization solutions that implicitly push relevant content to subscribers based on their browsing behavior. But their business objectives don't stop at delivering a satisfactory mobile user experience (because it is personalized); they are further harnessing these solutions to deliver targeted advertising that potentially drives results. Put the two together, (personalized mobile experiences and advertising messages targeted to users based on their content consumption), and you have the capabilities mix to satisfy users and – at the same time – create a sizeable market conditioned to accept relevant advertising. (And isn't this exactly what brands have been waiting for?)

THE PERCEPTION OF HIGH COSTS CONTINUES TO HOLD BACK MOBILE DATA USAGE, says a new survey from 3ple-Media. Last year, just 32 percent of mobile subscribers surveyed said that the believed receiving multimedia content on their mobile would be "too expensive", but that figure jumped to 58 percent this year. Meanwhile, 65 percent of operators surveyed agreed that cost was the biggest obstacle to users getting multimedia content. Source The bottom line: While flat-rate data plans have become more pervasive, and mobile data use has increased, cost still remains a very sticky subject, particularly for content not covered under unlimited data plans. This is a huge issue for operators and content providers looking to increase uptake of mobile content, but the implication is pretty clear: consumers don't have good pricing information, and they're hesitant to shell out without it. *** THERE'S A MIDDLE CLASS OF IPHONE APP DEVELOPERS, says mobile apps analytics company Flurry, with them bigger than independent developers, but much smaller than the traditional mobile powerhouses. The company studied the distribution of the most popular games on US carrier decks and in the Apple App Store, and found that the iPhone environment wasn't dominated by the same big names (EA, Gameloft, Namco, etc.), but rather by smaller, newer developers. Flurry says the cost of content is a big issue: it notes that in the App Store, EA's games mostly run from $5 to $10, compared to the $1 to $2 of other more popular games. It also notes that just before it conducted its analysis, Gameloft sliced the cost of its iPhone games to 99 cents; consequently 3 of its games leapt into the top 25 list. Source The bottom line: Once again, these figures show how price-sensitive consumers are when it comes to mobile content. The question for the likes of EA, though, falls back to that wonderful economic concept of price elasticity: by cutting the price of a $5 game to $1, will they get 5 times as many buyers? It's hard to get a read on that from Flurry's data, but anecdotally, it seems that users have a much easier time paying the mental transaction cost of a 99-cent app, and the lower price tempts a lot more curious buyers.

TAPTU MOBILE SEARCH GENERATING 1 MILLION MOBILE SEARCHES a day. The exclusively mobile search engine has revealed new statistics in preparation for the launch of its iPhone application. With 3.4 million unique users in April, generating a million searches a day, Taptu offers users results from sites that have been optimized for the mobile Web. The company's blog reminds us that when Taptu started out, it counted some 10,000 searches on a mobile device. In a press statement, Steve Ives, Founder and CEO of Taptu, reads this development as a clear indication that "there is a distinct need for a mobile-only search engine with results best viewed on mobile devices." Source The bottom line: It's encouraging to see traction for this particular approach to mobile search. Peggy adds: The question remains: Will mobile-only search, which essentially promotes a subset of wealth of content/apps/stuff out there, continue to flourish? Or will it be Web search scenarios, enabled by the usual list of suspects all over again. I have some positive views on the potential of social search in mobile, and share these via podcasts (such as this one) and my contributions to mobile search white papers. And while we mull over the prospects for mobile search, I invite you to consider the graph below from StatCounter Global Stats (based on aggregate data collected by StatCounter on a sample exceeding 4 billion pageviews per month collected from across the StatCounter network of more than 3 million websites) showing the companies that lead in online search . Charles Knight - my esteemed colleague and the "voice of alternative search" at MSG partner site AltSearchEngines - has launched a contest and asks: What is the one word that best describes Google's lead? (Google is the read line at the top.) "Alarming" is my pick... Since AltSearchEngines doesn't focus on mobile search (which is why we have partnered), allow me to share the StatCounter Global Stat chart for mobile search, and likewise ask your views. Why does Google lead the pack? (Particularly when the mobile experience offered by Google is known to be unsatisfactory...) What do YOU think?