Yahoo is the first search engine that allows people to search web pages through mobile phone calls. Marco Polis, Executive Vice President of Yahoo's mobile department, said that Vlingo's technology, which originated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, enables users with BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, or 8800 series phones to use Yahoo's mobile search engine (OneSearch) to search web pages via phone calls. Yahoo is studying how to make this technology applicable to other phones and international users.
Polis reported at the Internet Wireless Conference held in Las Vegas: "We will fundamentally change the way users use the web on their mobile phones."
Competing products include Microsoft's Live mobile search engine, but it can only handle specific local information, such as how to get to a local pizza shop.
ChaCha, an Indian company, allows users to search web pages by dialing 1-800-2-cha-cha (1-800-224-2242). ChaCha will reply with text messages. Unlike Vlingo, ChaCha employs people to listen and answer questions.
Scott Jones, CEO of ChaCha, said that Vlingo's voice recognition technology is the best mobile search engine he has seen, but its recognition capability still falls short of human ability.
Cory Pforzheimer, a spokesperson for Yahoo, said that Sunnyvale Company reviewed all voice recognition systems on mobile phones before finally choosing Vlingo: "We have many experts in search and voice recognition, they all left," he said.
Pforzheimer said that Yahoo's deal restricts Vlingo's business dealings with Yahoo competitors Google and Microsoft.
The company announced that Yahoo had attracted $20 million in Series B financing for Vlingo. Other investors include Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners.