IP Democracy: Yahoo! Ramps Up Wireless Hopes with Go Mobile 2.0

Yahoo! unveiled today at CES a revamped version of its Go Mobile initiative that the lagging Internet giant hopes will give it renewed steam as it grapples for growth. The new service is “truly the Internet in your pocket,” Marco Boerries, SVP of Connected Life said during a demo of the application he conducted during Motorola CEO Ed Zander’s keynote presentation.

Unlike other cell phone Internet applications, Yahoo! Mobile 2.0 goes beyond presenting a list of web sites by recognizing the search term’s intent and presenting relevant content — sports scores, for example, if a user searches for a particular team, maps to the stadium and so forth. It also has location-aware features that can pull up relevant local results, including such things as coupons for local restaurants, show times for movies at the theater down the street, etc., etc.

These advanced features are part of Yahoo!’s new mobile phone search technology called oneSearch.

Go Mobile 2.0 is available to any mobile phone user who downloads the application, although carriers are fully capable of blocking the application if Yahoo! doesn’t cut a favorable deal (which, according to this piece in the WSJ, the company is eager to do). Yahoo! has worked out relationships with a number of mobile companies, mostly overseas, with the major U.S. carriers seemingly still on the sideline.

Zander’s keynote, btw, was pretty good — the affable CEO maintained his energy (and surprise at the amazing new functions of products he has to already know like the back of his hand) through a series of demos related to Motorola products, most of which dealt with Internet mobility. “In this new world, the Internet will follow you, you will not follow the Internet,” he said. The mobile phone (or whatever we call these burgeoning devices) is key, of course. “It’s always on, it’s always with you, it knows who you are and where you are,” Zander said. “Nothing is as personal, nothing is as ubiquitous as this device.”

Update: Yahoo! also announced at CES a pact with Research in Motion to bring Go 2.0 to Blackberries.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 8, 2007 5:07 PM to IP Democracy