Vertical mobile search 'to become more important'

Vertical mobile search services will become more vital to web companies in 2009, it has been predicted.

According to Stephen Burke of Search Insider, vertical search will come into its own as a service that complements traditional horizontal search on the mobile platform - something that may have implications for the mobile marketing sector.

"To combat click fatigue and user dissatisfaction with slow, often irrelevant horizontal search results, operators and portals are embracing vertical search in the high-value content channels that drive transactions and will seek more efficient ways to integrate high traffic social networks to help drive sales of wireless data," he explained.

Mr Burke went on to note that it is unlikely any one search solution will be able to cover all of the sources required by mobile phone users, meaning that vertical search services branded by operators will be used in conjunction with traditional search by these users.

Use of the mobile web is likely to increase by a compound annual growth rate of 37 per cent among active mobile users in the next three years thanks to advances in technology and better data offerings from internet service providers, according to a recent forecast from JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan.