Yahoo to Launch Voice-enabled oneSearch 2.0

• Posted: Saturday, April 05, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Yahoo

Yahoo continued its aggressive mobile push as the web services giant announced the summer 2008 launch of oneSearch 2.0, an expansion of its mobile search service enabling users to initiate queries via text or voice. Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo's Connected Life division, announced the oneSearch upgrades during a keynote appearance Wednesday at CTIA Wireless 2008.

Boerries also said the company will open the search platform to publishers to stimulate content integration, simplify search input and make search instantly accessible on device idle screens. "We want to create indispensable mobile services for everyday people -- the kinds of services people use many times a day," Boerries said. "We believe the mobile opportunity is too big and too complex to do it alone."

According to Yahoo, improved content integration will yield oneSearch results based more on actual content, not just web links, and provide multi-dimension information -- for example, a search for "Italian restaurants" would include traditional results like addresses and phone numbers as well as user recommendations and available reservations.

While oneSearch 2.0's Search Assist feature promises faster and easier input, predictive text completion and contextual recommendations, Yahoo will also partner with speech-recognition developer Vlingo to enable voice search allowing for users to seek out any and all information without following prompts or adhering to specific search terms. While Yahoo will officially launch the oneSearch 2.0 service later this year, a technology preview is now available for download on BlackBerry devices.

In related news, Vlingo announced the completion of a $20 million Series B financing round led by Yahoo. According to Vlingo, proceeds from the funding round--which also included existing investors Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners -- will be earmarked to fuel international expansion and continue its R&D efforts. [ABI Research]

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