According to the new Juniper Research’s report called “Mobile Search & Discovery: Opportunities and Markets 2008-2013”, nearly 1.3 billion mobile users — 30% of the subscriber base — will utilise local mobile search services by 2013.
The report argues that the best equipped regions for the delivery of mobile local search are currently Western Europe and North America, as all countries within these regions have good local digital information suppliers (yellow and white pages, city guides, restaurant and entertainment guides, traffic information, etc.) and also good mapping data with good coverage of points of interest.
Ad-supported local search will be the key to driving the sector, but Juniper cautions that the effectiveness of advertising will vary widely based on the local. The research company identified three key factors – availability and quality of local directories and content, presence of the necessary location based infrastructure, and the quality of the user experience.
Additional findings from the Juniper report include:
- Local search is expected to account for 43% of cumulative mobile search advertising revenues between 2008 and 2013, reaching total revenues of $4.8 billion by 2013.
- User response rates to advertising which supports mobile local search are expected to be significantly higher than for advertising on general mobile web search.
- Western Europe currently accounts for the greatest volume of mobile search enquiries, but that will soon change as they will be overtaken by the Far East and China region.
- The so called “advertising overload” might act as a disincentive to consumers and might ultimately limit adoption. Other factor to worry about is the continuing public concern over search engine usage of personal data, aka privacy.
More information is available on Juniper Research’s website.