The term mobile Web is changing. Mobile is traditionally associated with on-the-move, portable and dynamic. However, with the advent of smartphones, an increasing number of users are accessing the mobile In-ternet via their phone while in more stationary and familiar settings, like at home or at work. This shift in the meaning of mobile is having a significant effect on mobile Web behavior. Designing great mobile Web experiences requires a deeper understanding of the information needs, behaviors and underlying motivations of mobile users. As such, the goal of this work is to study this shift and its impact on mobile Internet access , with a view to determining what this means for the future of the mobile Web and in particular mobile search. In this paper we present the results of an online diary and interview study of 18 active mobile Web users over a 4-week period focusing on how, why, where and in what situations people use the mobile Internet and mobile search. Our findings raise a new set of open research questions and point to a number of implications for enriching the experiences of mobile Web users.

ABSTRACT Mobile devices and the mobile Internet represent an extremely challenging search environment. Limited screenspace, restricted text-input and interactivity, and impatient users all conspire to exacerbate the shortcomings of modern Web search. Recently researchers have proposed that typically vague search queries be augmented by context information, as a way to help search engines to retrieve more relevant information.

The growing use of Internet-connected mobile devices demands that we reconsider search user interface design in light of the context and information needs specific to mobile users. In this paper the authors present a framework of mobile information needs, juxtaposing search motives—casual, lookup, learn, and investigate—with search types—informational, geographic, personal information management, and transactional.

Search faces (at least) two major challenges. One is to improve the efficiency of retrieving relevant content for all digital formats (images, audio, video, 3D shapes, etc). The second is to make relevant information retrievable in a range of platforms, particularly in high diffusion ones for mobiles. The two challenges are interrelated but distinct. This report aims to assess the potential of future Mobile Search. Two broad groups of search-based applications can be identified. The first group adapts and emulates web search processes and services to the mobile environment. The second is made up of services which exploit the unique features of mobile devices and mobile environments. Examples of these context-aware services include location-based services or interfacing to the internet of things (RFID networks). The report starts by providing an introduction to mobile search. It highlights differences and commonalities with search technologies on other platforms (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 is devoted to the supply side of mobile search markets. It describes mobile markets, presents key figures and gives an outline of main business models and players. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the demand side of the market. It studies users’ acceptance and demand using the results of a case study in Sweden. Chapter 4 presents emerging trends in technology and markets that could shape mobile search. This vision was partly based on an analysis of forward-looking scenarios for mobile, developed by the authors and evaluated by experts in the field (Chapter 5). Another input was a questionnaire to which 61 experts responded. Drivers, barriers and enablers for mobile search were summarised in a SWOT analysis. The report concludes with some policy recommendations in view of the likely socio-economic implications of mobile search in Europe.

Web search providers have a highly successful business model in place, which has rendered them amongst the most profitable companies on the internet. The mobile sector is expanding rapidly with the number of worldwide subscribers estimated to reach 5 billions by 2012 and with two-digit growth rates in the number of mobile internet connections. Consequently, many observers consider mobile search as the 'next big market'. However, there is little evidence so far to support such high expectations. In addition, we spot a general lack of studies based on large public data sets, which employ reproducible methods to forecast the evolution of trends in the sector. Surprisingly, whereas some market research reports dedicated solely to mobile search were published a few years ago, just when mobile search is moving to become a mainstream application, there appear to be no comprehensive recent studies about where the mobile search market is going. In this paper we report and analyse the...

Abstract Recent developments in the mobile phone market have led to a significant increase in the number of users accessing the Mobile Internet. Handsets have been improved to support a diverse range of content types (text, graphics, audio, video etc.), infrastructure investments have delivered improved bandwidth, and changes to billing models offer users much greater value for content.