Search, as the work horse of the internet, has delivered much. Though search as a problem is far from solved, there are many advantages that accrue from the imperfection of search engines. Firstly, there is this new skill that one gets to hone in identifying and getting to the answers one seeks from a whole pile of content. Then there is the obvious market for search optimization since in the perfect search world, the engine makes out the relevance of the article, no matter what the layout of content.
But mobile search is a who new ball game. There are several key factors here such as the form factor, more reduced tolerance to irrelevant results and holy grail of all time 24×7 advertising. There is immense potential here for the next big giant since the solutions in this space are certainly nascent.
There is so much different about search on the mobile front that it presents a whole new opportunity for the next major technology shift. The user interface is one place to start and we know what a big difference that can be with the stupendous success of the iPhone. Next is the data entry mechanism. Typing in on keyboards just does not seem the most intuitive way to operate a mobile device. The reduced display size means that more than ever search engines have to now really get to categorize search results based on context. Mobile search reduces the envelope to a few (4-5) results as against 10-25 on the desktop.
There is lot of scope for improvement in this space and the innovations are mind blowing. The big wigs are racking their brains with foldable models and dual end inputs and what not. Expect more on the mobile search front in this space in the coming days.
