Microsoft Updates Live Search for Mobile - First Take

Michael Gartenberg | October 16, 2007, 09:00 PM

Microsoft announced a new version of their Live Search and mobile offerings today. You can get it at wls.live.com. New features include voice input, gas prices and a new voice service at (800) CALL-411 (800-225-5411). Clearly a lot of this stuff is based on the Tell Me acquisition and it looks like that was a deal that is starting to pay off for Microsoft. They've also announced a new Blackberry version of the service as well.

Overall, I've been using the new version and it not only compares nicely to Google's offering, it goes well beyond it in several ways including voice. The key is getting consumers to get on their devices, navigate the URL and install the software. It also comes at a time when the carriers are noticing these efforts more and more by third party portals and are begriming to resent  the perceived loss of revenue (several carrier handsets actually block these applications from working). Overall, this is an excellent update that puts Microsoft in the lead in terms of features and utility but in the end, the challenge will be getting users to take out a phone and type in the URL and download.