Perhaps the next step for Google is to find a way to manage the online directories they use for databases. When searching for a business with multiple phone numbers, such as Wal-Mart, each number has its own search result even though it may give the same address. In a Wal-Mart search in Sunrise, FL, five of the 10 results on the first page are for different departments within the same store. If these departments were all consolidated into single entries, it would save mobile users’ time and money; they would not need to keep loading new pages with redundant results. Of course, this is a beta, so perhaps Google has plans to enhance this aspect of their local searches.
While almost three quarters of phones being produced anymore can use the mobile website via XHTML Web pages, phone users who can’t or chose not to can use Google’s recent SMS option, also in beta. SMS (Simple Message Service) has been widely available on cell phones produced for the last several years, and is more often called text messaging. When you text message your search criteria to the number 46645 (GOOGL), Google will return a text message to you with your search results.
The feature obviously doesn’t have the same interactivity as a regular search, since you simply receive a text message as a response instead of a list of links. As with the XHTML mobile pages, there are no ads or fees besides what service providers may charge for text messages. With the limited space for SMS messages (maximum of 160 characters), it’s questionable whether there would be space for ads or if consumers would even tolerate them. Google hasn’t ruled them out, though.
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