Mobile applications are getting attention from the thousands of attendees at the CTIA Wireless 2010 show. Yahoo garnered some of that attention late Tuesday with two new mobile applications, Yahoo Sketch a Search and Yahoo Search.
“The Yahoo applications are very impressive,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, from the CTIA show in Las Vegas. “They are doing a tremendous amount now with location-based services, but the question is, can they stand out in what increasingly has become a crowded market?”
Yahoo Search was created to give users fast and relevant results in searches, according to Yahoo. The free application has a slew of features, including localized queries that pop up as the user types, embedded maps, voice search, and content information from Yahoo and other providers.
Apple iPhone users in 22 markets in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia can already tap into Yahoo Search. The company plans to roll out the application to additional markets.
Convenience features include integrated voice search, which enables the user to speak a search query, and a memory that provides fast access to recent searches. Mobile-phone users in the U.S. can also use Yahoo’s location feature, which gives results based on location. For example, a user can tap into the application’s embedded maps and location technology to get directions to a business.
Additional features include viewing photos and data from Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local. Users will also get search results with specific information from providers such as Yahoo Sports, News, Finance and Movies.
Sketch a Search lets mobile-phone users to use Yahoo maps to find information about a particular area by finger-drawing any shape around a particular area. Once users draw a sketch, Yahoo provides local business information within the area. Users will get a bird’s-eye view…