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Will iPhone be the Death of Mobile Search?

By Lonnie Lazar (1:52 pm, May 25 2009)

iphonegoogle.jpg

iPhone applications and the increasing popularity of smartphones, driven especially by growth in the developing world, pose the greatest threats to the long-term relevance of mobile search engines such as Google and Yahoo, according to a report Monday at TechRepublic.

Jason Hiner, Editor in Chief of the widely read technology web portal, argues that a personal experiment he’s undertaken using his Apple iPhone leads to the inescapable conclusion that “trends [in mobile computing] add up to bad news for Google in mobile search because it translates into fewer people needing its search engine,” offering several pertinent examples of his own behavior in addition to statistics about the growth in smartphone use over the past year that bolster his thesis.

There’s little argument that iPhone changed the mobile phone game entirely with its arrival on the scene two years ago, as all the major mobile handset makers have since come to market with their versions of touchscreen smartphones to compete with Apple.

In addition, Apple revolutionized the environment for mobile software development by creating the App Store, which both provided a brand-new arena for software developers to work in and suggested a model for distribution that had previously been limited to the distribution of entertainment titles through the iTunes music store. Apple’s competitors Blackberry, Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows Mobile) launched App Store-like marketplaces in response.

But does all of this development, do all of these trends in mobile computing spell the eventual end for search as a relevant tool on mobile platforms?

Certainly Google’s voice search functionality adds to its relevance and appeal on a mobile device, but as Hiner argues convincingly, limitations of mobile device screen sizes and challenges related to typing on small handsets do make traditional desktop search functionality far less appealing in the mobile environment.

What do you think? Do you use Google less on your iPhone? Should Google be worried about the trends in mobile computing as a great threat to its core search product? Let us know in comments below.

14 comments »

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About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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  • Michael

    I have no need for Google. There are plenty of other impartial search engines that offer better results. Google is a weighted, ad-delivery service whose best days are gone.

  • John

    I don’t understand the thrust of the article. Is there supposed to be another way to search besides Google? Are they saying that people with smart phones don’t search? I don’t get it.

    One of the main reasons I got an iPhone was to be able to search. I was on a trip and tried to find a local coffee shop by dialing 411. The operator had a heavy accent. I kept asking her to repeat. Finally she hung up on me! As soon as I got home I bought an iPhone.

    The three main things I use the iPhone for are:
    1. Reading web sites I visit often.
    2. Searching with Google
    3. Searching with Google Maps.

    My searching styles and Jason’s are just anecdotes. Statistically iPhone users download a lot of data each month implying they are on the web and some of that will be searching. Other articles have talked about the phenomena of people quickly reaching for their iPhones when they need information.

    Finally, there was a financial article I ran across somewhere speaking to the revenue Apple was getting from the iPhone as every time someone searches with Google Apple gets a small amount of money.

    Interesting thesis but needs more backup data.

  • http://www.michaelvermaak.com Vermaak

    I have to say I don’t really use the Google app at all, although I was planning to re investigate it. I do however use Google’s search in Safari all the time. I also use the search built into the native maps app, which must count as well?

  • Jamie

    I still use Google on my iPhone to find everything I would normally search for on my MBP.

  • Michæl

    I’m definitely more reluctant to Google things with my iPhone—the reason I use Google so much on the desktop is because doing a quick search is sometimes faster than coming up with a better way to get the information. But slow load times over the Edge network (which I’m still on usually) make me think through how I’m going to get the information more intelligently. So if I need to look something up on Wikipedia, I use a dedicated Wikipedia app. If I’m trying to get to a web address that I saw on a billboard, I’ll type it in manually from memory. If I’m trying to divide 391 by 26, I’ll take the time to use the actual calculator app.

    I expect this habit will change a lot though, when I’m back on 3G.

    Google’s mobile site isn’t bad though. It’s pretty easy to swipe through. It sometimes seems a little buggy.

  • Ryan

    This is retarded. I suspect that Microsoft employees might troll a board or two to agree with this, but I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t paid to denounce Google would do so unless their computer savvy or intellect was suspect. I’d like to say the logic is highly flawed, but because the there really isn’t an argument, I cannot see any logic to this argument.

    I use a lot of apps that use Google as a mens to find things around me with my smart phone, so if anything, I’m using it more…

  • Scott

    Just to echo some of what Michael says. Although I’m not on edge as much as he his, I also tend to use app-specific things to find what I’m looking for if it’s the type of thing I bothered to find an app and download (i.e. wikipedia app, yellowpages app, translation app) so my Google use related to those types of queries are down for sure on the iPhone, but Google is still my #1 choice when I’m trying to figure something out that’s not going to have a dedicated app.

  • Lonnie Lazar

    I apologize if I was a little obtuse in the original article here, but if you followed the link to Hiner’s piece at TechRepublic, his point is that the limitations of mobile devices in and of themselves, in addition to the limitations of using web search on slower mobile networks, leads him to rely far more often on dedicated apps to get information he’s looking for in the mobile environment. IE: White and Yellow Page apps for contact information, Yelp app (or Urbanspoon, or others) for dining search, etc.

    I have to agree with him that personally, I find using Google in the same way I use on the desktop far more cumbersome on the iPhone. I like the idea of Google’s voice search, but find it doesn’t respond consistently well enough to my accent or vocal cadence or whatever, to make it truly useful.

  • http://coii.ru Avertedd

    Сорри за оффтоп, кто-нить смотрел ролики на ютьюбе про конец света? Ну, про андронный колайдер Ваще страшно!

  • http://@dominiqueleca dom

    Interesting
    Almost never use Google on my iPhone indeed!
    I am more a ‘there’s an app for that’ kind of guy
    :)

  • James Katt

    I use Google all the time on the iPhone.

    Google Maps, for example, is one of the best ways to use Google to find places using Google’s search engine.

    I use Google on Safari all the time. Realize that Safari on the iPhone is the best mobile browser experience. It brings the desktop experience to a mobile platform. This is what people want – the full web surfing experience. Thus the full Google experience is totally available on the iPhone.

    When you want to answer a question that arises in a conversation, iPhone users are notorious for using their iPhone to find the answer via Google. For example, I recently answered the question “What is the population of the city of Greenfield, California?” using Google.

    The iPhone means more and more use of Google. BEFORE THE IPHONE, MOBILE SEARCH WAS DEAD. Hardly anyone used Google on a cell phone.

    The iPhone RESURRECTED mobile search by by bringing the desktop search to a mobile device.

  • Mike F

    I use Google search everyday on my iPhone. I think apps have revolutionized the marketplace, but search is still key!

  • imajoebob

    Mr Hiner makes false choices in his assessment. He prefers a QWERTY keyboard, but iPhone has one – it’s just not tactile. He usually uses Google to reach websites on his PC. That’s an extra step he can avoid on both by typing the company name in the Safari address bar (I just type “cultofmac” in Safari and this pops up). He uses specialty apps to avoid these “drawbacks” – except these same drawbacks apply to his specialty apps. Does the keyboard work better in the Yellow Pages app than in Safari?

    Google is synonymous with search. The more mobile users searching means more users for Google. Period. If Mr Hiner’s difficulties are that bad, someone will step forward with an app to enable true Google voice searches. In fact, if searching is as difficult for others as Mr Hiner, Google is working on the app as we speak.

  • Daniel

    Rather than download and page between various applications that each do a small subset of what Google does already, I throw out the middleman and just Google it. Try it, it’s good for you. With the power of Google you might banish a thousand apps from your Springboard forever.