I’m just back from hosting the very successful Mobile Content Awards 2008 in London (more about the highlights in another post) and out the door to Brussels for Mobile Advertising 2008, when I see this in my inbox.

MCN, a provider of mobile search management and monetization solutions, chalks up another major win today with the launch of SMS triggered mobile search across Thailand’s leading mobile operators (AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove). The new MCN-powered SMS triggered search services build on the WAP-based search applications that MCN has powered for all three operators since early 2007.

In a nutshell, triggered mobile search is about extending mobile search to SMS users, allowing them to search using a shortcode (in this case 4530111). In this scenario, the user sends a text to search for downloadable content items. In return they get the content they want in 2-3 clicks, directly from local content sources.

But the SMS triggered search service is more than the entry point to relevant search results; it’s the gateway to additional content exploration and - hopefully - sales. This data point from ABI Research that confirms to an extent the importance of SMS-based content discovery: “The market for SMS search will see significant growth worldwide, with Asia-Pacific driving much of the growth - overall SMS search queries will grow from 12.9 billion in 2008 to 76 billion in 2013.”

The virtuous cycle around this particular approach to search & discovery is possible because of the quality/variety of the content choices the real-time federated search management solution returns in response to a query. As it is designed from the ground up to showcase fresh content (real-time) and promote a blend of content companies best-suited to deliver the goods (federated), it delivers good results, broad choice, and all the more reason for users to explore what’s at their finger tips.

Granted, SMS triggered mobile search is not a brand-spanking-new concept- (there is a slew of plain-vanilla mobile search services where text triggers the delivery of actionable answers, for example). However, the excitement about triggered search - particularly in Asia - is building, making this approach one to watch. Even at the MCA event I just attended, execs from major mobile operators across the region confided they are on the look-out for ways to move mobile search from a mechanical interaction into more of a two-way conversation. And SMS triggered mobile search certainly fits the bill.

The logic: This flavor of mobile search - unlike western-style branded search schemes - delivers a choice of content results that goes a long way toward encouraging content discovery and the all-important impulse buy. Fortunately, I have deep ties to DTAC that date back to my attendance at the March 2008 Mobile Search Expert Group event in Thailand, so I will circle back in a few weeks with a podcast that gives us their take on SMS triggered mobile search, and the inside track on their roadmap and new UI.

In the meantime, this statement from MCN CEO Marc Bookman also confirms the pivotal and growing importance of this mobile search service. As he put it: “With SMS triggered search, we now dramatically expand the addressable market for transaction-focused digital content discovery not only in Thailand but also across dozens of other emerging and mature mobile markets. SMS is a central part of daily life for hundreds of millions of mobile users, and is the primary starting point for use of wireless data services.”

A happy coincidence indeed: Marc will also speak at the IIR Ltd Mobile Advertising event that counts MSG as one of its main media sponsors. (In fact, he speaks shortly before my panel on Wednesday, ‘Overcoming the Barriers To Delivering A Successful Mobile Search Ecosystem’, where I will be joined by Juhani Kivikangas, VP Content TeliaSonera.) You can count on me to ask Marc about this deal and a few others I know are in the pipeline. I’m under NDA, but can say that the next weeks will see this US company (Japanese HQ) deploy across more territories in Europe and Asia.

(Disclaimer: MCN is a supporter of MSearchGroove.)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Content Discovery, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Research, Mobile Search. 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.