Search: Future of search - Evolutionary curve

years, search would become the dominant digital force .

The development of search as an advertising medium has centred around
evolution. The first indexes in the mid-90s were clunky by today's
standards and Google had not yet even launched. The recently rebranded
Ask was second to market behind AltaVista and following them was a rash
of players including Yahoo! and Excite. While the landscape is now
dominated by the behemoth Google, there is still plenty of room for
innovation.

Perhaps the best example of this to date has been the emergence of
Blinkx.tv, which was founded in 1994 by dotcom entrepreneur Suranga
Chandratillake, and has just launched Pico, an integrated search engine.
Chandratillake says that Pico is an indication of the future direction
of the market and that in 10 years, search as it is known today will no
longer exist. 'Today search is an explicit function,' he says, 'but the
real power is when it happens automatically in the background, and that
is what we are trying to do with Pico.'

The service is intended to sit on users' desktops and read and respond
to any text that a user has open in any application. So, if the user was
reading an email from a friend about taking a trip to Rome, for example,
Pico would already be delivering content on Rome such as travel guides
and hotel listings.

Guessing game

The idea of second-guessing the user is not new. Microsoft tried it a
few years ago, introducing the Clippy paperclip helpcharacter in Word.
Unfortunately, most people found the character more annoying than
helpful. Chandratillake is certain that Pico will not have such
problems. 'Search is a very disruptive medium, but Pico complements
whatever you are using, anything with text in the window,' he says.

Beyond the written word, search services are already being developed for
video, with obvious commercial benefits for TV and film distribution
companies.

If video search follows the same pattern of development as text-based
search and becomes the automatic choice for finding video online, and if
the commercial model developed on Google in the US is adopted more
widely, then video content owners will be cashing in, with technology
platforms such as Apple's iPod likely to be a prominent destination.

Stephen Taylor, VP Yahoo! Search Europe, says that Yahoo! is currently
developing a commercial model for video search based around areas such
as sponsorship or keyword buying, but he stresses that video is only
part of the medium's expansion.

'We have just launched Yahoo! Answers, a social search service that
brings communities into the heart of search by letting them share
answers and content with each other,' he says.

Another potentially lucrative area for both advertisers and content
owners is the rapid development of mobile search, although it has had
more technical difficulties to overcome. The original listings sites and
operators' portals that served as the first navigation tools are now
being replaced with mobile internet sites from major players such as
Google and Yahoo!

Last month, Vodafone signed an agreement with Google to use the search
giant as the main mobile search provider for its Vodafone Live! service.
T-Mobile also has a deal with Google, making the engine the default
homepage on its 3G service.

Mobile internet

The penetration of 3G handsets, coverage and services will see search
rise in importance to mobile operators as they encourage their customers
to use more data services and increase their average revenue per user
(ARPU).

Thomas Husson, mobile analyst at JupiterResearch, believes that the
development of mobile internet will play a key role in the broadening of
search through the platform. 'The main usage driver will be mobile
internet use, especially as operators move from services with limited
access to the internet through their own portals, toward a model
allowing greater access to internet sites,' he says. 'To some extent it
could replicate the online model in terms of commercialising mobile
search, but it will take time, as brands will need to learn how to
exploit the space.'

The take-up of search has been boosted by many separate drivers since
its inception: technology, consumer lust for information and, most
importantly recently, increasing advertising demand.

Search is already a cash-rich business and although there are the first
indications that growth in paid search is showing signs of waning - at
least in the US - future expansion onto new platforms could prove
beneficial to advertisers in the long run.

Less than 10 years ago, there were no search engines online and until
recently there were no mobile search services, not to mention viable
mobile internet search platforms, but with new opportunities opening up
all the time, the market's potential is huge.