MSearchGroove

In-Brief: A critical look at mobile search stats, an examination of Amdocs value prop and a few question marks around DoCoMo’s tie-up with Google.

SKEWED SEARCH STATS: Like the rest of you I also read this week that 46.1 million mobile users in the U.S. used mobile search in 3Q2007, according to a report by Nielsen Mobile. Nielsen surveyed over 5,700 mobile users to make some over-arching observations about search user behaviour and conclude a whopping 4.1 million used search (!) The most widely used form of mobile search was 411 used by 18.1 million users, followed closely by SMS based searching used by 14.1 million users. What do users search for? Local listings led the pack with 27.1 million, information about news, weather and sports scores came in second with 14.8, and 11.3 million said they searched for mobile content.

But you can’t always believe what you read. Kudos to AccuraCast for digging a little deeper than most to reveal some serious shortcomings in Nielsen’s methodology. As this insightful post points out: “The figures quoted above were built up based on a survey of 5,793 users. The responses on the survey were then extrapolated to build up estimated total numbers. This works in many cases, but for this particular survey, Nielsen’s sample user base must have been skewed, because the numbers paint a rather improbable picture.”

AccuraCast hones in on local search queries to make an important point: If 27.1 million of 4.1 million made local searches as Nielsen claims, then that would mean over 50 percent of users carried out local search queries. This is highly unlikely if we consider that Google Mobile Search, which accounts for approximately 51 percent of all searches on mobile devices, classifies only 4 percent of their searches as local. Connect the dots and that would mean that, for Nielsen to be accurate over 80 percent of searches conducted on non-Google search engines would have to be local queries. It just doesn’t figure…

AMDOCS SEARCH OFFER: I’ve kept a close watch on Amdocs for two reasons: they bought Qpass, a provider of digital commerce software and solutions that was moving full-force in the direction of recommendation engines and similar cross-sell upsell schemes before Amdocs snapped it up in 2006; a wealth of personalization data that can be gleaned just from billing records. Put the two together and it was only a matter of time before Amdocs would break on the scene with a search and advertising offering. The waiting is over.

Amdocs has launched its Search and Digital Advertising solution, which leverages operators’ analytics, including subscriber data, to deliver more targeted and personalized advertising. It’s not rocket science. Customer data that operators collect is at the core of all schemes that can potentially help advertisers to deliver the right ads to the right users. That’s Marketing 101 - not a mobile Internet insight.

The Amdocs Search and Digital Advertising solution spans capabilities for campaign management, inventory management, yield management, optimization and an executive dashboard with a full set of metrics. The solution also supports advertising campaigns across multiple channels and formats including search-based advertising, display, SMS, MMS and video. This could be the ace in Amdocs’ hand if we consider the heightened brand interest in running campaigns that cover all the bases. What’s more, the offering also lets service providers offer “self-branded search capabilities.” The search engine is fully integrated with personalization and ad matching for ad-sponsored search-based advertising, and the company claims search is processed in real-time “along with contextual (area of interest and location) and behavioral information to serve precisely target advertising relevant to the values and lifestyle of the end user.” This is possible because, based on proprietary Fuzzy Matching technology, Amdocs’ search solution “understands the user’s intent” - even when the submitted query is loosely worded.

Just how personal is Amdocs’ personalized search & advertising offer? Where will Amdocs get the inventory? Will it be sold as an end-to-end solution? These are just a few of the questions Amdocs will answer in a proper briefing. I had the pleasure of meeting Gil Shai, Amdocs Search Unit Director, at the recent VisionGain mobile search conference, and will circle back once my PA pins him down for a Q&A.

GOOGLE & NTT DOCOMO: After some speculation about a tie-up with Google Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has made it official. It will make Google available on i-mode handsets, positioning Google search results for Web sites (by default) on the top page of DoCoMo’s Internet portal site.

The two companies, which plan to launch handsets based on Google’s Android mobile software platform in 2H2008 in Japan, are also examining ways to add on other Google services, such as e-mail, YouTube video, and Picasa, a service that lets users share and publish photos over the Web. There’s also a chance Google Maps for Mobile could become a standard pre-installed application on upcoming i-mode handsets to be launched in the near future. The reams of reporting stress that, in DoCoMo’s view, the partnership will allow it to retain users in a competitive market and raise advertising revenue while cutting development costs. That’s a lot to expect from a partnership - period.

The real prize is advertising, not search. Google’s AdWords advertising will appear alongside search results platform beginning this spring. Reuters reports the two companies aim to reap joint advertising revenues of 10 billion yen ($94 million) “as soon as possible.” But neither party provided details on the revenue split. (I have to wonder if yet another mobile operator hasn’t fallen for a rev-share too good to refuse. This eye-opening article posted earlier this week on MSG will fill you in …)

• Posted in
• Personalization, Mobile Research, Mobile Search, Mobile Content, Mobile Advertising, Local Search

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