Yahoo! unveils new voice search feature for mobiles

by Staff, Brand Republic 03-Apr-08, 15:15

NEW YORK - Yahoo! is introducing a service in the US that will allow mobile phone users to carry out web searches using their voice instead of typing in a keyword.

The development is part of Yahoo! oneSearch 2.0, a new version of its mobile search service.

It lets people speak search words into their telephone handset, with Yahoo! promising that it will work with users' natural way of speaking.

It allows search requests such as cinema times, restaurants or train timetables. Users can make requests such as "sushi restaurants in San Francisco" or to check a flight's status, say the name of an airline and a flight number.

It presently works only on BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry 8800 series and, at the moment, is not available outside the US, although it will be rolled out internationally over coming months.

Yahoo! is also planning to make available open mobile search results to publishers, which would allow them to add information such as, in the case of a restaurant, how many tables are available.

In addition IPhone users will have access to predictive text and other improvements, via Search Assist, which will be extended to other phones later.

In the UK, Yahoo! has an advertising deal with Vodafone and has recently said it will supply graphical advertising on T-Mobile's Web'n'walk service.