MACAU — Yahoo! oneSearch users in the Philippines can now access Yahoo! Answers and the popular open encyclopedia Wikipedia while on the go using their Web-capable cellphones and other mobile devices.
Yahoo! made the announcement during the recently concluded Mobile Asia Congress held here.
Yahoo! executives said the integration of Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers into oneSearch will improve the user experience by delivering instant answers from a variety of sources and allowing users to tap into the largest knowledge-sharing community and reference site while on the move.
Yahoo! oneSearch is specifically designed for mobile devices, delivering results directly on the home screen and removing the need for consumers to navigate through several links to websites to find the information they need.
For instance, when users make a query through oneSearch such as “what are hybrid cars?” oneSearch would augment oneSearch results with a Wikipedia cluster.
Yahoo! OneSearch gives users access to Yahoo! Answers, Flickr photos, currency converter, Wikipedia, news, websites, mobile websites, financial information, weather conditions, flight information, Web images and news images. Information on Yahoo! oneSearch in the Philippines is available at ph.mobile.yahoo.com.
According to Steve Boom, Yahoo! senior vice president for mobile and broadband, Yahoo! focused on giving users what they want in a mobile device.
“Mobile users don’t want to make searches like in using their PC. You have a small screen, you want information quickly, one search. We want to bring content forward. We want to give you the stuff you want to see upfront. You get information, not links,” he said.
“In Southeast Asia, we foresee a boom in mobile Internet,” he added.
For his part, David Ko, Yahoo! general manager and vice president for Connected Life Asia, said Yahoo! has adopted a strategy anchored on three factors — focus on customer, innovation and partnerships.
“One aspect of this strategy that we are very excited about is Yahoo! Go for Mobile and Yahoo! oneSearch. Both are applications that have been built from the ground up specifically for mobile devices. This represents the next phase of the Internet, on the go, with the mobile Internet and mobile search providing people with a seamless experience suited for a mobile lifestyle. Now, the Internet goes where people go, and it fits right in the pocket,” he said.
“We are customer-focused. We are trying to be the partner of choice,” he said.
Ko said Yahoo! has been active in the Philippines where it enjoys an 85 percent reach. Recently, Yahoo! has partnered with lot of Internet cafes in the Philippines as part of its effort to make more Filipinos be interested in the Internet.
“The Philippines is a very hungry market. People have been using a lot of things whether you are in your PC or mobile device. We launched this (Internet education) seven months ago. We need to have people understand how to use these services,” he said.
According to a recent study by Oxford Analytica, mobile subscribers in the Philippines have grown from 10,000 in 1990 to 46.2 million this year.