Forum Moderators: mack
Effective in the first half of 2009, Microsoft will power search on Verizon's mobile portal as well as local and Internet search on the carrier's feature phones and smartphones. Depending on the device, Microsoft Live search will allow Verizon customers to use voice commands as well as typed queries to get information.The pact also calls for Microsoft to manage search and display advertising on Verizon's mobile Web service, creating what the companies called "a one-stop integrated way for advertisers and ad agencies to reach mobile consumers."
a one-stop integrated way for advertisers and ad agencies to reach mobile consumers.
Sounds like a fancy way of saying M O N O P O L Y. If Microsoft is the default provider of search functionality and Microsoft displays Microsoft only ads and Microsoft takes payment from advertisers to display those ads... it's hard to call it anything else really.
Does Verizon's mobile portal have a large enough user base to make an impact on say the Google adsense/adwords bottom line?
edit: and can we expect this change to result in smartphones displaying ads from stores we're within a mile or two from anytime soon?
[edited by: JS_Harris at 5:28 am (utc) on Jan. 8, 2009]
It is funny every time I start to hate on Google for something that may be perceived as bad, I do a comparison to prove my point and rarely does any of their competitors blow them away. Google's mobile search integration and implementation work quite well for free on my Verizon phones already.
With that in mind I hope Microsoft will take their mobile services allot more seriously than they do Live search or I will have to figure out a way to disable their new "feature" as well.
Yesterday I did a search on Live (I check it once in a while to see if things have improved), and it seems that Live has added site-links just like Google; there is one problem though. They are like the pictures in Cuil--very hit and miss. One particular Wikipedia entry came up with 3 site-links that were somewhat relevant to my search, and a 4th one that was about a religious event.
I am a Verizon customer, and their coverage is great, but I'm sick of their terrible choices in the phones they offer and the idiotic partnerships.
