Microsoft gets mobile search

'Huge opportunities' in mobile search, says Microsoft exec - Computerworld a number of others sites have picked this up and run with it. But I would also like my two penny worth.

Over the past six months I have been asked by a number of senior executives for a view on Mobile Search. I have said that mobile is not the same as the internet, for a start most users are still not big users of data services thanks to the high cost of the service. So this being the case they mobile user is not going to be happy with the current Google service which is more guess than answer.

What Windows Live seams to be is a local service which gives better results, however I am still not sure about the semantics involved. My favorite example at the moment is searching for a coffee shop, how does Orange now that if I am asking about a coffee shop at the weekend in Amsterdam its not java I am after, as opposed to the same question on a wet Monday in Bristol? And with both cases I would be unhappy to be sent to Starbucks.

Just wonder how much of this is based on the recently bought MotionBridge technology and how much has been developed in house. I guess the important thing is that it demonstrates that Microsoft is happy to take the battle to Google when it comes to Mobile which is more than can be said for some of the others.