Mobile apps could threaten Google, Yahoo and Bing’s search future
As the internet goes mobile, apps could be replacing the need for search
Applications that take users directly to e-commerce sites and other web service destinations threaten search providers such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing, according to BroadPoint AmTech.
Some retailers including Amazon and eBay are making it even easier for consumers to visit their site and make purchases by offering mobile apps that enable full browsing and purchasing functionality.
Consumers who download these mobile apps directly to their iPhones and other smartphones and can then go straight to the source website and buy what they need. So will the search box be a redundant feature of the internet in the future?
There are several opportunities to make money from pairing ads with search engines on smartphones and other mobile computing gadgets, but applications that take users directly to e-commerce sites and other web service destinations threaten search providers, says BroadPoint AmTech.
Mobile web search and queries are on the rise and will continue to soar once consumers begin to leverage more location-based mobile services. It’s no wonder Google swore its allegiance for the space by bidding $750 million for mobile ad maker AdMob.
BroadPoint AmTech said 10 to 30% of the mobile searches consumers trigger for Amazon.com, eBay and the like go through the Google, Yahoo or Bing search box on their iPhones, Google Android devices and other smartphones. Ads served with these navigational queries cultivate decent click-through rates.
But many vendors are making it even easier for consumers to visit their sites and make purchases and it isn’t just the big companies that are creating mobile apps to drive e-commerce to their websites.
This presents Google, Yahoo, Bing and other mobile search engine providers with an interesting quandary, or intriguing options, depending on how they choose to approach this new turf war.
These providers can secure search toolbar distribution deals with phone makers such as Apple and wireless carriers, grabbing the scraps from the tables of mobile app providers.
Or these internet companies can build their own mobile apps for prominent placement on smartphone decks. For example, Google has recently released two powerful apps, the Google Maps Navigation turn-by-turn GPS program and the Google Goggles visual search app.
Both are currently available only on Android. Google hasn’t discussed how it might make money from these free apps, but serving local ads with its GPS app and its visual search app seems to be such an intuitive task that it would be surprising if Google did not undertake it.
In any case, Google is headed in the right direction with the impending Nexus One smartphone, a fast-performing HTC device. The search giant seems to be focused on making sure it can guide the development of the mobile web while protecting and expanding its own business model.
Could other search companies follow suit to protect their online futures?
January 7, 2010 - 9:10 am
I have to say this article did grab my attention as there has been a lot of speculation about how much impact smartphones and their ‘apps’ are going to affect the world.
I would propose that it is mainly the business world that has the biggest use for smartphones with email, calendars etc…
We also have to remember that smartphones are mobile devices – we use them when not at a desktop computer – they are not and never will be the preferred option always second best. Give me a keyboard and a decent sized screen any day of the week.
If I am at my desk at work or at home there is only one tool to use for browsing the web. If I am ‘on-the-go’ I only use the handset if I really have to otherwise it can wait until I can get back to the more user friendly, ergonomic interface of a desktop computer.
I have an iPhone, I think its great. Are the apps good? Yes, to a degree – I can check my bank balance, check how the ebay auction is going, check tube train status and obviously use it for directions – all quick and easy to deliver content providing I am not driving, in a meeting or just living. Will I ever use it for research? Not really.
I think we need to understand what people search for on phones, not the amount of searches before we can start saying search engine are dead. And even it they are we still need search content providers and they are not likely to change as it is easy to develop an app but quite hard to set up a search engine.
On our desktops we have widgets which are pretty much the same thing as native apps on a smartphone so nothing new there really.
I think we have to keep phones in context, they are firstly and foremost a phone. Anything else is a bonus, and will always be a compromise.
On a slightly different topic – if regular use of a normal full size keyboard and screen can bring on RSI and eye strain then I hate to think what texting is doing to the eyes and hands of the current ‘mobile’ generation.
January 7, 2010 - 10:42 am
Mobile apps aren’t a threat to Google and Bing…
Yes, some apps are effectively micro-vertical search applications, for example, an app to find the best restaurant in your town, or an app to find the best hotel deal.
But phones will need app search functionality, both to find new apps (Web search), and to search through your own collection of apps on your device (personalised search). And it’s likely that Google or Bing will be the first to provide this.