It looks like mobile search is about to be taken seriously. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon Wireless has tapped Google, and the two are close to reaching a deal that would see Google’s mobile search come pre-installed on Verizon handsets.
“It’s the latest sign that telecom companies are finally conceding that their homegrown search services have stalled — and that they need help from the Internet’s big guns,” says Amol Sharma at the WSJ.
This news comes just days after telecoms analyst Juniper Research awarded Google for its mobile search.
In fact, Google has been quite busy with the mobile parts of is business in recent days. The other day, it began testing ads through the mobile version of YouTube, and also separately announced that the first “Googlephone,” the HTC Dream, would be coming out in November through T-Mobile.
With Google already dealing with two of the largest providers, it seems poised to dominate the mobile realm just as it has the search industry as a whole. Like Doug said last week, Eric Schmidt is betting on mobile in a big way.
“We can make more in mobile than desktop eventually,” Schmidt said recently. “The reason [is] because the mobile computer is more targeted. Think about it: you carry your phone everywhere, it knows all about you. We can do a very, very targeted ad. Over time, we will make more money for mobile advertising.”
Based on Google’s recent mobile moves, Schmidt and co. are showing that they intend to make good on those words. Hopefully once the deal between Verizon and Google closes, we will know more about the terms of the deal.
