IntoMobile » Mobile Web

Google Mobile Search for Movies Revamped

Simon Sage — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:57:21 +0000

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) searches for movies on Android, iPhone, and webOS are about to get a little more helpful today. With a few taps, you can find showtimes, theatres, ratings, and category sorting. Throw in a dash of GPS integration to keep the results local, reviews, and streaming trailers, and you’ve got yourself quite the upgrade. Man, Google has been on a roll with the mobile news lately. Maps navigation in Android 1.6, web services facelift, Apps upgrades, and mobile coupons are all new this week. Here’s a video demonstrating the new movie search.

Fifty DKP minus for picking New Moon. Which are promptly earned back with the double-cross fist-bump at the end. If you’re in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand, go ahead and boot up google.com on your mobile browser to try out the updated movie search.

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Bing Available on More BlackBerrys

Simon Sage — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:03:02 +0000

Aside from being preloaded on the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Storm2 and getting rolled out on the original Storm, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s search engine, Bing, is continuing its spread on mobile. An over the air download link for the BlackBerry Tour 9630 version has bubbled up, the 8530 Curve2 is apparently preloaded with it (though I don’t see it on my unit), and a knowledgebase article is talking about new features in the 8300-, 8500- and 8800-series. If you haven’t tried it yet, Bing offers voice-enabled search, GPS-enabled local search and directions, suggested results as you type, and top news. Windows Mobile and BlackBerry seem to be getting the royal treatment right now, but it would be pretty interesting to see Bing on Android at some point. Obviously Google (NSDQ: GOOG) will be ruling the web search roost for some time still, but considering Bing’s recent partnership with Wolfram|Alpha, Microsoft will at least be able to offer an interesting alternative. To see if you can nab it on your device, head to m.bing.com/download from your mobile browser.

[Bing via BerryReview]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Mobile Google News Optimized for iPhone, Android, and webOS

Simon Sage — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:37:29 +0000

Those with an iPhone, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, or any Android device will be happy to hear about some new changes to the mobile Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News. The new version allows you to add custom keyword, local, and recommended sections, as well as shuffle and move the sections as you like. That’s the main thing, but it looks like there are a lot of optimizations in terms of layout and navigation that make Google News on mobile all the better. Personally, I’m still waiting for an official Google Reader application, which would make News pretty much a moot point, but you might as well go ahead and check out news.google.com in your mobile browser in the meantime.

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Sony Music Entertainment to mobilize its artists’ websites; MJ’s site first on the list

Dusan Belic — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:57:35 +0000

I’m not sure why it took so long for Sony’s music publishing arm to fully “go mobile,” but whatever the reasoning is, it’s good to see them finally taking this route.

The company has partnered with Azuki Systems to optimize the web destinations of its artists for viewing on mobile phones. Not surprisingly, Michael Jackson’s official website is the first site to launch under the initiative.

Located at m.michaeljackson.com, the Michael Jackson mobile website features news, photos and streaming access to classic videos such as “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” and “Thriller.” The site is optimized to work with all of the latest higher-end devices such as the iPhone/iPod Touch, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Store, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Android-powered devices; though we’re guessing some other phones will do the job just as well (Symbian S60 devices)…

And of course, Sony Music wowed to roll out mobile versions of other artists’ websites in the coming months.

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Microsoft Bing’s mobile site updated with NFL feature, flight status info and better support for high-end devices

Dusan Belic — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:17:11 +0000

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has updated the Bing mobile website, located at m.bing.com. Here’s what’s new:

NFL feature – type a team or player and see upcoming games, stats, and scores. While the game is on, you can get real-time updates on the plays. (U.S. only)
Flight status – enter the airline and flight number to get the latest departure and landing times.
Support for touch-enabled devices – mobile website can detect high-end devices and show a better and touch-friendlier version of the site. A new Movies feature is also included, allowing “Search for Movies” in your city, showtimes, overviews, and even trailers and video clips. Supported devices include the iPhone, Zune HD, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) G1, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Imagio, Samsung Omnia, with more devices to get supported over the next couple of months.

And that’s about it. It’s nice to see Microsoft pushing its search engine forward…

[Via: Bing Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Opera Software: Opera Mini saves consumers $8.1 billion per year in mobile data costs!

Dusan Belic — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:01:33 +0000

Opera Software is out with their monthly “State of the Mobile Web” report and we bring you some cool highlights:

You know Opera Mini works through proxy server that compresses data and sends you the user more bandwidth friendly version of the site. Well, thanks to that compression, Opera Software said that their mobile web browser has saved their users in top ten countries approximately $8.1 billion in mobile data costs! It’s important to note that this survey reflects metered rates only, not flat-rate subscription options.
In September 2009, more than 35.6 million people used Opera Mini, an 11.5% increase from August 2009 and more than 150% compared to September 2008. These people viewed 15 billion pages in the period – 7.2% increase since August and 230% since September of last year. In terms of data usage, September 2009 accounted for nearly 227 million MB of data for operators worldwide.
The top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage are (in order): Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Poland and Vietnam.

As usual, you can get the full report from Opera’s website.

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Quattro Wireless teams up with Ford for Lincoln mobile marketing

Dusan Belic — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:43:49 +0000

Mobile marketing company Quattro Wireless and Ford launched a new website for the car company’s Lincoln brand. Specially designed for smartphone users (which smartphone models exactly?), the new mobile site boasts a virtual showroom with vehicle specification, photos and video; shopping tools including a dealer locator and inventory information; as well as information for owners including click-to-call roadside assistance.

In addition to mobile website, Quattro Wireless also manages the SMS functionality associated with the cross-channel campaign. Thus, you can receive an SMS introduction to Lincoln vehicles by texting “MKStag” or “MKSDemo1″ to 4LINC.

Finally, those with barcode reading app installed on their smartphones can point their device at the barcodes in Lincoln print catalogs to access the mobile website and get all the relevant information.

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Google Custom Search goes mobile

Dusan Belic — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:53:01 +0000

This one’s for mobile site webmasters/owners. Now they can add the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Custom Search to their mobile site, just like they could do it on a full-blown website. The reason is obvious – Google wants to serve ads wherever they can, while providing a great service to the site visitors, no matter which device they [users] use to browse the Internet.

Here’s how it works:

If you own a web site and add a Google Custom Search box to it, when your users access the site on an Android-powered phone, iPhone, iPod Touch, or Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, they will can see optimized search results formatted for these devices. When they search on your web site, they are can be redirected to a Google-hosted Custom Search mobile results page created specifically for your Custom Search engine. If you’d like to serve these mobile results from your own web site, you can host your own version of the mobile Custom Search home page.

Another great move by Google. I’m guessing we’ll soon see similar things released by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Yahoo, though they first need to offer the “standard” custom search feature and then eventually “go mobile.”

[Via: Google Mobile Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

United States Postal Service Launches New Mobile Site

James Falconer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:29:07 +0000

The United States Postal Service has embraced the mobile web with a new mobile site. The site, located at m.usps.com features many of the popular features found on their main website, including the track and confirm tool, post office locations, ZIP code lookup, and more. In addition to the new mobile site, the USPS is apparently working on some new apps for the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and iPhone… and GPS features are said to be in the mix. Will have to keep an eye out for more on that!

In the meantime, check out m.usps.com from your mobile. Give me the thumbs up or thumbs down on the new site when you do so.

Postal Service Goes Mobile
New features for mobile devices

WASHINGTON — It’s a Post Office on your phone. Customer convenience and product access are the focus of expanding the most popular online services onto web-enabled mobile devices.

Some of the most popular functions currently available on usps.com are now available on cell phones and other mobile devices. The new features include Track & Confirm, Post Office locator, and the most popular application, ZIP Code lookup.

With more than 232 million mobile communications devices in the United States — a growing number of which can access the web — the promise of Internet access from virtually anywhere in the country is fast becoming a reality.

“Our new mobile capability makes USPS services even more convenient for our customers,” said Robert Bernstock, president, Mailing and Shipping Services.

Any mobile user with web access will be able to log on to the Postal Service mobile site no matter where they are, without having to use a personal computer, Bernstock said.

“If they’re on the road, they’ll be able to use the Post Office locator function to find a Post Office that’s close to them. And they’ll also be able to track and confirm delivery of their mail or packages using their mobile phone,” he said.

The Postal Service is also designing applications for “smartphones” and other mobile devices like the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone, BlackBerry and iPod Touch which take advantage of additional capabilities, such as GPS.

Mobile applications make it easier for customers to interact and transact business with the Postal Service. These applications are the latest in a series of enhancements, upgrades and solutions designed for Postal Service customers.

[Via: BBSites]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

RIM Actively Seeking WebKit Developers

James Falconer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:34:52 +0000

When RIM acquired Torch Mobile, I think all of us on the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) scene were convinced Waterloo had big plans for its mobile browser… and with good reason, as in my opinion, the thing needs a LOT of work. With that in mind, RIM may have accidentally (or maybe they just don’t care) spilled the beans on their plans. Well, maybe we already knew they had big plans for their browser, but at the very least they’re showing off the fact that they need HELP!

Check out this job posting over at LinkedIn, where you can see RIM is actively looking for a WebKit developer to assist with the development of a new-and-improved BlackBerry browser. Interesting for sure. Kind of makes you wonder what RIM has in mind, and if they’re struggling for brain power to make the thing work.

I’m pullin’ for ya RIM, but I can’t honestly say I’m optimistic. There’s a lot of solid browsers out there in the mobile world. You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you!

Stay tuned.

[Via: MobileCrunch]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Baidu to power China Unicom’s mobile search service

Dusan Belic — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:25:15 +0000

China’s leading search engine Baidu has entered into a partnership deal with China Unicom to provide search services for the carrier’s 3G mobile subscribers.

Under the agreement, Baidu will be the default search engine on China Unicom’s handsets. In addition, few Baidu apps will also be pre-installed, enabling users to quickly access Baidu Knows, Baidu Post Bar, image search, news search, MP3 search and other services. Finally, China Unicom’s mobile website will be powered by Baidu’s search engine.

As a reminder, in May of this year, Baidu announced a similar deal with China Telecom…

[Via: CellularNews]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Mozilla App Coming Soon to iPhone

Simon Sage — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:17:34 +0000

Following a recent interview, Mozilla CEO John Lilly let slip that “Mozilla will release an app to the iPhone App Store in the next few weeks. … It’ll surprise people.” Further prodding revealed that both the AwesomeBar and Weave (which let you access cloud-stored bookmarks and history, much like Opera Link) will be a part of the picture. After a bit of wrestling, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) began allowing third-party web browsers into the App Store last January, but the big worry, of course, is that they’ll see Firefox as too much competition with the iPhone’s native Safari browser and not allow it.

If that were the case, Mozilla would likely see it coming a mile away and could be creating something other than a browser for the iPhone. Perhaps some kind of third-party bookmark sync? Maybe Apple let them create a plug-in engine for Safari? It’s hard to tell, but we should be finding out “in the next few weeks”. The Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N900 is currently rocking flash-enabled web browsing thanks to Mozilla, and they’ve already announced their intentions for Windows Mobile and Android with Fennec, but iPhone is a juicy market segment that would significantly expand Firefox’s reach. What would you guys like to see from Mozilla on the iPhone?

[via GigaOm]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Microsoft makes a Bing push in China

Dusan Belic — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:55:49 +0000

Like any giant company, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) wants a piece of the ever-growing Chinese market. In that sense, they are re-launching their mobile offering in the country in a move to compete with the leading players – Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Baidu.com.

The new Microsoft portal has been established, offering downloads of mobile clients for Bing and Windows Live Messenger, as well as instructions on how to use other Microsoft services, including Hotmail, from a mobile phone.

In addition to “classic” web search, the Bing mobile client allows searching for local information such as maps, restaurant locations and weather forecasts.

At the moment, Chinese search market is dominated by local player Baidu, whereas Google holds a distant second place. Together, the two companies account for as much as 95% of the market and Microsoft wants to change that.

[Via: PCWorld]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

dotMobi announces mobile domain/keyword bundles for Chinese market

Dusan Belic — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:49:50 +0000

dotMobi has teamed up with China-based mobile keyword vendor Huarui to offer mobile keyword and .mobi domain bundle for Chinese brands and businesses.

From the press release:

Keywords – memorable words that a user can type into a mobile phone instead of a number – are very popular in China. And specific to the Chinese market, dotMobi will offer Web addresses in Chinese characters. These addresses in non-standard language characters are known as Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). The use of Chinese-character IDNs will allow Chinese-language mobile Web sites to be found more easily by search engines.

As for the availability, the dotMobi/Huarui bundles will be available in a special sunrise period beginning at 4 a.m. UTC on October 29, 2009, and will finish at 4 a.m. UTC on November 28, 2009. Immediately after, general registration will commence, and the keyword/Chinese-language .mobi domain bundle will be available at standard prices.

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Volkswagen of Americalaunches smartphone-optimized mobile website

Dusan Belic — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:34:33 +0000

Volkswagen of America which is usually at the high-end of technology (just like some other automakers) is going “smart” mobile, with a launch of the smartphone-optimized mobile website. Located at m.vw.com, the new site is compatible with “all web-enabled cell phones and mobile devices,” whatever that means. Actually, I think they refer to the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre as well as a number of Android-powered devices.

Feature wise, the new site has most of the content the company’s regular website has, with the difference that it is optimized for a smaller screen. In that sense, users can browse for latest Volkswagen vehicles, find a local dealership, and eventually contact them. Additionally,users can also download some mobile content (ringtones and wallpapers) free of charge.

Finally, in case you’re wondering, interactive agency AKQA is behind the project.

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Google search for Android/iPhone/Palm webOS gets enhanced Search Options

Dusan Belic — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:17:59 +0000

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has updated its mobile search product for its users with iPhone, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Android-powered devices. It’s the “Search Options” that has been updated, allowing you to slice and dice search results. As a result, you’ll be able to fine tune your search results by date and site type (i.e. forums, reviews, web). In addition, you can also search for images on pages from the same menu.

And that’s about it. Simply go to google.com from any of the smartphones mentioned above, click on the “Options” link in the top right part of the search results page and take it from there. It’s that easy.

[Via: Google Mobile Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

BOLT Browser out of Beta for BlackBerry

James Falconer — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:59:41 +0000

OK, the fact that the title is a tongue-twister isn’t important… what’s important here is the BOLT browser for BlackBerry is indeed out of Beta! Brilliant! The release today brings the popular Berry browser to an official version 1.5, and it’s available for download right now. If you already have BOLT installed, you should be prompted to upgrade the next time you launch the app. Many new features have been added, including a dedicated search bar, a download manager, and an awesome new caching feature.

Hit up BoltBrowser.com for more details.

[Via: BBOS]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

AT&T uses Opera Mini to bring full-HTML browsing to featurephones

Will Park — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:10:56 +0000

If you thought HTML web browsing was only available on smartphones like the iPhone or AT&T PURE, think again. AT&T (NYSE: T) has just launched a handful of messaging-oriented featurephones packing the full-HTML “att.net” mobile web browser, blurring the line between what we consider to be dumbphones and smartphones. The att.net browser uses a three-window approach to delivering a rich browsing experience, and is powered by none other than Opera’s Mini browser. As far as we know, AT&T’s re-branding of the Opera Mini browser is Opera’s largest US carrier deal to date.

Getting back to that whole three-window approach. The first window in the att.net browser serves as a homepage of sorts. From the homepage, users can explore the internet, assign bookmarks, set preferences and access their favorite content. The second window delivers location-aware information like nearby restaurants, nightlife venues and ATMs, as well as maps, driving directions and traffic information. The third window serves up headline news from popular sports, entertainment and news sites.

As smartphones continue to gain market share, it’s only a matter of time before all phones are capable of what we consider to be “smartphone features.” AT&T’s re-branded Opera Mini browser is a big first step in bringing some of that smartphone functionality to the masses. You can find the att.net browser on the just launched Pantech Reveal and Impact and the Samsung Mythic and Flight.

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Google mobile and desktop search history now in sync

Dusan Belic — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:37:14 +0000

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has updated its mobile search service enabling search history for registered users. The good thing about it is that this feature is in sync with your desktop search. So when you search for “IntoMobile” on your computer and start typing “int”, you’ll get “IntoMobile” being recommended from your history.

As I said, you’ll need a Google account in order for this to work. Afterwards, you can enable/disable this feature from the “Settings” link on Google.com. In addition, you can simply opt not to save searches, if you feel a bit paranoid. Personally, I find this super useful and have already used it.

[Via: Google Mobile Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this:

Google revamps Local Search for Mobile

Dusan Belic — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:19:49 +0000

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has launched the revamped version of its Local Search product that integrates with Google Maps on your computer and includes browseable categories for searching without typing. What this means is that you can research from a comfort of your PC/Mac and “star” places. Then from your mobile phone, you can quickly access those starred destinations and read more about them while on-the-go. In addition, there’s a category browse feature (pictured on the right), which makes sure you don’t have to type to much – simply click on a category link and get relevant results. Sounds cool, too bad I can’t try it out at the moment, as the new Local Search for Mobile is available in the US and China, only. Google wowed to expand the service to other regions in the near future.

In the meantime, if you live in the “affected regions,” simply point your mobile browser to www.google.com/m/local or click on the “Local” tab on www.google.com, and take it from there.

Finally, before I let you go, there’s a video demoing the new Local Search for Mobile — after the jump.

[Via: Google Mobile Blog]

Related News from IntoMobile:

Share this: