Sprint and Microsoft announce new Live Search application that knows your location
By Will Park on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 1:41 PM PST In Announcements, Applications, Devices, Services, Sprint, Technologies
Mobile search applications like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s Live Search sure are handy, aren’t they? Well, they’re about to get a lot handier. Microsoft has teamed up with Sprint (NYSE: S) to roll out a new Live Search client that uses location-based information to help you find the nearest pizzeria or nail salon (for that emergency mani-pedi that you might find yourself needing).
The trick thing about the new Live Search is the way location information is calculated. Sprint and Microsoft have extended the Live Search functionality to use cell-tower triangulation for calculating a user’s position. Without the need for GPS modules, cell-tower triangulation opens up the world of location-based mobile search to a wider array of mobile phones. Starting today, all Live Search mobile searches on Sprint’s network will incorporate location information.
Users of Sprint’s five high-end mobile phones will also be able to use the new Microsoft Live Search client by speaking their search terms into the phone’s microphone – no more endless tapping away at the RAZR’s numeric keypad. The lineup of voice-compatible phones includes the Samsung a900 and a920, the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) RAZR, the Sanyo (OTCPK: SANYY) 840, and the LG 550.
We’re expecting the location-based Microsoft Live Search to hit other carriers soon, so keep an eye out. Cell-tower triangulation really is the best way to get positional information without a cumbersome GPS module – it isn’t the most accurate way to get location data, but it’s close enough for mobile searches. Not to mention that location information can even be calculated in dense-urban environments where high-rise building can hinder GPS performance. We like it.
[Via: SearchEngineLand]
