With Peggy Salz

Mobile search was always exciting (at least for me – I’ve followed key developments since 2003). However, the rise of alternatives to Google in mobile (which MSG expertly tracks here and for our partner, AltSearchEngines), forces us to change our pre-conceived notions about what it takes to win, as well as the line-up of companies likely to dominate the winner’s circle.

What is the mobile search ecosystem? Has it been properly defined and are there different value chains depending on the search engine provider? (That is, does partnering with a branded search provider vs. a white-label provider produce a significantly different value chain and/or impact the role of the mobile operator, ad networks and software/app providers?) Great questions – and ones that I, together with Juhani Kivikangas, VP Content, TeliaSonera, and Marc Bookman, CEO, MCN Inc., explored during our panel discussion at the recent Mobile Advertising 2008 conference in Brussels. (More about that in a later post – going to be a catch-up weekend…)

By coincidence, we honed in on the role of search as a must-have component of all services – not just ones offered by mobile operators and the usual suspects. In fact, Marc pointed out that MCN sees increased interest and demand from content companies and services providers. For me, this statement is a clear confirmation that change is underway in how mobile search companies must express and execute on their value propositions going forward. Will content companies partner with branded search providers who are also competitor portal providers and whose intentions are difficult to divine? I have my doubts…

As search becomes a service proposition, the landscape will no doubt have to make room for more vertical search engine companies and new types of companies we can’t yet identify let alone name. (There will also be ample room for a mobile search platform provider to bring all this together in a list of actionable results.)

Case in point is the move this week by semantic search engine hakia to offer syndicated search feeds to third-party companies and mobile applications providers. The first company to leverage this is Berggi, a provider of mobile consumer apps. Using the hakia syndication service Berggi has already released an alpha version of a mobile search application for the global market. If you’re in the U.S., the search app is compatible with AT&T and Sprint phones (Blackberry and iPhones excluded).

I caught up with hakia CEO Dr. Riza Berkan to better understand the service and the big-picture strategy around opening up the API to encourage developers to bake semantic search into their mobile apps. (Thanks to Riza for the briefing and to Farrah Hamid, hakia Communications Coordinator, who provided the screen shots below.)

As hakia is a new name in the mobile search space, I’d like to present a quick over view of the company and its capabilities.

Read the entire post on Peggy’s blog MSearchGroove HERE.