IMPAQT News
Google Adds Local Directions to Mobile Devices
April 13, 2005
Google's addition of street maps and local business listings, accessible through consumers' cell phones and other mobile devices, earlier this week is the search giant's latest attempt to compete in the increasingly competitive local search space.
Yahoo has been offering driving directions and similar services for mobile devices since October, and other smaller players are involved.
"It's the new frontier for search," said Richard Hagerty, CEO of search marketing firm Impaqt, Pittsburgh. “They're all doing local search.”
The ability to be able to walk down the street and find local businesses from a cell phone is a great opportunity for marketers -- potentially a bigger market than the Internet, Hagerty said.
"There were 170 million mobile phones in North America in 2004,” he said. “Those users dwarf Internet users. It's going to give information to people when they need it, perhaps right where they're standing."
