Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have all optimized their search to help mobile users find what they want on the Web. Now Ask.com is rolling out a set of mobile services that will let owners of global positioning system-enabled handsets use the Web to find their way to local merchants.
The Ask Mobile download hooks into other services owned by parent InterActive Corp., so users can search for businesses in the Citysearch local directory and get maps and on-screen or spoken directions to those merchants. Other functions enable users to locate prospective dates in the neighborhood with Match.com or check and forward party arrangements through electronic invitation provider Evite.
In coming months, the company plans to integrate services such as Ticketmaster into Ask Mobile, according to Doug Leeds, Ask.com’s vice president of product management.
The usual mobile constraints apply: Right now Ask Mobile is available only on select Sanyo phones and to Sprint users alone. Future growth will depend in part on the spread of GPS-ready phones. And after a short free trial, users pay $10 a month.
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