In-Brief: On the heels of wins with T-Mobile USA and India’s Tata Teleservices, MSG gets the inside track on Juice Wireless, the company behind the mobile social networking app JuiceCaster, from the source. Nick Desai, Juice Wireless CEO, updates us on Mobile Video Search (MVS), the free search app that may pay dividends.

Will the usual suspects (Google Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask) dominate mobile search? This summary post from AltSearchEngines (and the rousing success of its AltSearch Day) tells us it’s by no means a shoe-in. The site counts 227 alternative search engines in the online space. Sure, they may only have 1.7 percent market share, but the fact that there are so many of them speaks volumes about our increasing need for vertical search engines. (And then there is the novel idea of building a single federated search for alternative search that would most definitely give Google & Co a run for their money.)

A Long Tail of search engines is flourishing in the online space – will it be the same in mobile? And more importantly when can we expect it?

Common sense tells us the personal nature of the device and the variety of content types available create the perfect Petri dish for vertical mobile search. (Consider mobile music and mobile games search – two content-specific search services we can look for this year.) In line with MSG’s brief to track and analyze all the flavors of mobile search coming online, I have set up briefings with the vertical search companies I’m sure we’ll see more of soon. I also have an exciting mix of multimodal (visual/voice) search providers in the pipeline – so please check back regularly.

One company on my radar is Juice Wireless, which earlier this year took the wraps off its Mobile Video Search (MVS) service. As the video below shows, this free and first-of-its kind service allows anyone with a mobile phone (capable of viewing video) to search for videos (user-created content as well as professionally produced videos from brands and media companies) by texting keywords to the shortcode 84462 (in the U.S.). The search tool sends the user a reply with links to the requested content.

The MVS announcement got some media attention, but I missed a closer look at Juice Wireless strategy and some straight answers to some nuts and bolts questions. For example, what is the connection between mobile search and JuiceCaster – the company’s hugely successful social networking app/subscription service lets users upload/share pictures and videos directly from their camera phones to more than 20 online social networking and blogging sites (including MySpace, Facebook and Twitter)? More importantly, why does it make business/commercial sense?

I caught up with Nick, who was fortunately forthcoming with answers, stats and a status report on his wider plans to partner with media companies/brands and let them reserve keywords in a “Google AdWords-like model.”

Listen to the podcast. [11:37]

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Mobile social networking: Lots of other sites are mixing mobile and video, but Nick is convinced made-for-mobile and mobile-centric schemes will make the winner’s circle. “Our goal was [and is] to build a solution for the phone, with the phone at the center of a hub and spoke, where the spokes [include] your MySpace page, or a Facebook page, or personal website, another phone user, or an IP TV set-top box.” BTW: JuiceCaster counts “some 75,000 users.” The MVS is “extremely popular” – but no numbers since both members and non-members use it.

Mobile search basics: The idea and the IP is all Juice Wireless. “We built a search engine for the JuiceCaster social network; we built the ability for people to upload videos; and we built the transcoding solution.” Why? Because mobile search may be powerful – but it is currently powerless when it comes to bubbling up all the cool video content, Nick says. The solution: Simply combine keyword search, SMS text, and content-specific search. “It [our approach] combines the influential power of video with the immediacy of mobile search.”

Mobile search strategy: Moreover, it lays the groundwork for a virtuous cycle of more content, more searches and – potentially – more advertising. The combination with JuiceCaster is a “way to very easily upload your video, put in your own keywords – which is free – and then promote it as a solution for your own search needs.” An example Nick offers: A band trying to promote its music. Including a keyword in a flyer and instructing fans to text it to the MVS service is a sure-fire way to guide users to that content – and more. “If I have time and want to check out some videos, why should I have to run the social network [on the phone]? If I want to watch videos, then why not just be able to text in some keywords?” Making it simple makes it valuable to consumers as well as brands.

Advertising & “AdWords-Like” Approaches: How can this play out? Juice Wireless’ recent tie-up with Vogue sends some clear signals. By way of background: Vogue magazine recently teamed up to deliver SHOPVOGUE.TV on-demand mobile videos, with the help of JuiceCaster’s MVS service. As a result, anyone can access SHOPVOGUE.TV’s mobile video content by texting the keyword “SVTV” to 84462. The MVS tool then sends a reply with a link to a library of programs including 60 Seconds to Chic, Behind the Lens, and Trend Watch. As it is all about social networking, users can also comment on, rate and share the videos right from their mobile devices. What a clever way to get users to watch and share video programming developed with the magazine’s advertisers…“Our model is to allow brands and media companies to reserve certain keywords in their Google AdWords-like model, so that if you search for “Vogue”, you always get their videos right up at the top.”

And there is more to come. “We’re in the process of commercializing and signing a bunch of Tier-1 and Tier-2 partners from the media and advertising community.” Juice Wireless doesn’t want to be an ad sales network, but it does want to dig down deep into its corporate DNA (the company started out in mobile marketing, delivering solutions to brands ranging from Conde Nast to Sony) to make search pay.

Expansion: Nick hinted at operators wins in North America, Western Europe and India. (This interview was conducted shortly before the company formally announced the tie-up with Tata Teleservcies and T-Mobile.) So, keep an eye on Western Europe…

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Search, Mobile Social Networking, Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.