Yahoo is beta testing local mobile content and this is aimed at delivering hyper-local results directly to your phone.
You can check it out on your Android and iOS device right now by going to http://beta.local.yahoo.com. According to Yahoo, the local mobile provides:
– Local News and Information – delivering relevant hyper-local neighborhood and city content created by the community, local publishers, and Yahoo! editors as well as content from the best local blogs and newspapers
– Saving Money in Your Area – we’re integrating our recently launched Local Offers program to deliver the best locally relevant offers from nearby spas, restaurants and retailers so you save cash while you support local businesses
– Powerful Technology – our geo-informatics and content enrichment platforms identify and geo-tag every news story that appears on every page down to the neighborhood level
The local mobile search is just the latest effort by Yahoo to beef up its mobile products. The company just improved mobile search and all of its products are now being built with smartphones and connected devices in mind.
Yahoo isn’t the only company working on local information, as Windows Phone 7 and its integrated Bing search does this quite nicely by having the user swiping to the left or right to reveal local results. Google is also making a big push for local, relevant results on mobile devices.
Of course, Y! is now primarily a content company, as much of its search technology is provided by Microsoft and Bing, so you have to wonder how many resources this will get. I tried it out briefly on an iPod touch and found it to work well but there’s nothing being offered which will make me seek this out every time I’m looking for something around me.
It is just a beta though, so let’s give it some time to see how it develops.
[Via Yahoo blog]
