In a statement released this morning, Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) and Infospace have announced a partnership aimed at delivering an ASP mobile search service, enable carriers to assert more control over their content business models while providing mobile search to customers.
The two companies hope to offer mobile carriers increased functionality, reliability, relevancy and performance in a mobile search solution, merging FAST’s search software, relevancy algorithms, crawling and indexing technologies with InfoSpace’s experience in implementing mobile infrastructure, metasearch, carrier integration and customer-facing ASP solutions.
The partnership between FAST and InfoSpace is geared toward giving mobile providers greater versatility in controlling the user experience across multiple platforms, and deploying business models that better promote their own brands and services.
By 2011, eMarketer predicts brands will be spending nearly $5 billion on advertising, up from $421 million in 2006. FAST and InfoSpace are looking to take advantage of these growth opportunities in the mobile search market, particularly in the realms of personalized mobile search and targeted advertising.
“Our ongoing partnerships on mobile search with leading carriers in North America and Europe highlight our expertise in meeting the needs of their customers,” said Steve Elfman, executive vice president of InfoSpace’s mobile business unit.
“We’re joining forces with FAST to further our integrated approach that will unlock the full potential of mobile search, including enhanced user discoverability and increased carrier revenue.”
“Search is the most used and most profitable tool on the Internet. The FAST and InfoSpace partnership takes the search paradigm to mobile users to allow for controlling and monetizing each user interaction with a robust set of features, built on top of superior portal search and mobile web search,” said John Markus Lervik, CEO of FAST.
“Personalized results enhance user satisfaction, increase purchases, increase traffic, and drive advertising revenue or any other business model deemed important by the mobile carrier.”
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