For most wireless Internet users, the sites they see are typically limited to the few listed on the menus of the carrier’s so-called walled garden. Usually, the content providers behind these sites have paid a hefty fee to buy prime placement there. But what if a user is away from a wireline Internet connection and wants information that a Web-based search engine might be able to locate? More and more carriers are allowing access to search engines that can find relevant information on the wireless Internet.

Google’s search engine, for example, is showing up on wireless networks from Cingular, Sprint PCS, Quest, Nextel, Bell Mobility, and Vodafone. Google is also part of Yahoo’s wireless portal, as it is on the wired Web. On the Sprint PCS menu, Google offers the option of searching Sprint only, the entire Web, or the mobile Web, and searching by text or number. The Google Number Search facility allows users to avoid double-tapping or triple-tapping keys when they type in a search term or URL. For example, they can just type in “466453” to access Google, without hitting the “5” key three times to specify the letter L. The search algorithm automatically displays a list of sites that most closely approximate what the user has typed. “We do the analysis on the server side, as opposed to having software resident on the cell phone,” says Chris Skarakis, director of business development at Google.

In addition to content from wireless sites, Google provides access to HTML sites on the wired Web, allowing users to view Web content that hasn’t been specially formatted for wireless devices. Google translates the content, even preserving hyperlinks so that users can jump from Web page to Web page through their phones. An emerging competitor is Pinpoint, which provides a wireless search engine and directory for Verizon Wireless and for Terra Lycos’s Lycos Anywhere portal. “We never endeavored to be a portal ourselves,” says Pinpoint president Jud Bowman. “We want to provide our infrastructure software to other portals and carriers.” Pinpoint’s search engine mainly lists wireless sites that use wireless markup language (WML) and handheld device markup language (HDML). The directory categorizes the sites into such areas as news, sports, and weather. Pinpoint tailors its directory and search-engine infrastructure to its customer. The search engine also allows carriers to do pay-for-placement deals. Several vendors besides Google rely on number searches to speed up wireless Internet access. VeriSign offers a WebNum service that operates in a similar way to its domain registry service for the wired Web.

Businesses can purchase a one- to seven-digit WebNum Logo Number shortcut from VeriSign. Companies can base the WebNum on how their name would be spelled on a telephone handset (266 for CNN, for example) or on their main telephone number, as in the ENUM initiative for the Web [“Number, Please,” May 15, p. 79]. By advertising the logo number as they would a domain name or toll-free number, they provide a quick way to access wireless sites. “Content providers can acquire a logo number similar to their company name, brand, or the ticker symbol of their stock to increase traffic to their wireless sites,” says Robert Pepper, director of WebNum marketing for VeriSign. “They can have a uniform identity across carriers.” Several companies have signed up for WebNum and begun beta testing the service, but none have publicized their WebNum codes yet. VeriSign is also working with carriers on embedding WebNum into their phone browsers. In July, VeriSign struck a deal with Cellmania to integrate Cellmania’s mFinder directory with WebNum. The directory lists more than 15,000 wireless Internet sites and provides reviews and user ratings. Cellmania licenses its mFinder directory to several carriers, including AT&T Wireless and Orange/Hutchison in India. “We have a keyword feature where you can search by keyword or just browse the mFinder directory,” says Sean Girard, communications coordinator at Cellmania. “You can search using a WebNum through our directory and see an overall review of a site.”

Like VeriSign, RealNames is building a registry channel worldwide. RealNames specializes in keyword navigation without the need to enter complicated URLs. Its concept of keyword navigation came from its wireline business and now is being applied to the wireless Internet. Instead of typing in a complicated URL with letters and numbers like United Airlines’ http://www.ua2go.com/ wireless site, users could just type in the word “united.” RealNames also provides an auto-complete capability. “Instead of typing in the entire keyword, you can type in the letter U and the letter N and you get a listing of keywords that begin with UN,” explains Jorge Tapias, senior manager, business development, in charge of RealNames’ wireless business. “You click there and navigate straight to the place you want to go.”

A business can buy a keyword for the wired Web and wirelessly enable it for an additional fee. The keywords work on the VoiceStream network and through a relationship with Openwave Systems, RealNames is hoping to sign carriers in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. “The goal is to keyword-enable all the top wireless carriers’ networks,” says Tapias. “It’s basically the same channel model that’s used in selling URLs.

There’s one registry that owns the keyword sales rights in a particular country. They go out and sell those keywords to companies who want to buy them.” Domain Numbers Ltd. is taking an approach somewhat similar to VeriSign’s WebNum service, but with some key differences, according to director Graham Saywell. His New Zealand–based company has registered about 900 generic words and phrases as numbers followed by a dot-com extension and owns those URLs. “You can enter a URL that spells doctor—362867—followed by .com, and that will take you to a portal for medical information,” he explains. Other URLs include 6397.com for news, 73274.com for search, and 9328437.com for weather. The search selection includes options for Excite, Google, FastSearch, and Yahoo, among others.

So far the company has not struck any carrier deals, but its service is accessible through wireless carriers that allow access outside their walled garden. Another company entering this arena is iPhrase, which is trying to provide a natural-language search engine. For example, to find the address, phone, and fax information for Cisco, users would input “Where is Cisco?” on their Palm VII and RIM BlackBerry. To ask for a list of the top five technology companies by market capitalization, they could use a shorthand request such as “top 5 MCP tech stocks,” receiving a two-column table in reply.

The company is still in a “late prototype” stage of developing its wireless software, according to the CTO, Raymond Lau. “One of the things you might ask is how much cash does Microsoft have,” says Lau. “We dynamically extract that information from a Web page and send back a user-customized page that optimizes the screen real estate.” Another type of wireless search engine is geared more toward location. Vicinity Brand-Finder allows users to search through their favorite brands, such as Starbucks, and find the nearest dealers and service providers. Go2Systems also offers its go2online search engine, which can find stores as well as movies and restaurants.

Users can search by address, name, and other criteria. Comparative shopping services, such as DealTime and mySimon, also offer a form of wireless search, helping users search for online sites and brick-and-mortar locations where they can find particular items, along with the prices from the various retailers. As more businesses establish wireless strategies, customers will be looking for their offerings through wireless search engines, while employees will be turning to these engines to find information wherever they happen to be. By Michael Cohn

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