Study shows astounding number of Google searches from iPhones

by Daniel Nasserian - Feb 21 2008, 21:41

In a recent study by Google and AT&T, results have shown that Google search requests on the iPhone occur 50 times more than any other handset.

"We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again," Vic Gundotra, head of Google's mobile operations told the Financial Times at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"If the trend continues and other handset manufacturers follow Apple's lead in making web access easy, the number of mobile searches will overtake fixed internet searches within the next several years", Mr. Gundotra said.

"More searches mean increased revenues for Google, which makes its money from advertising attached to search results. Google has never separated out its mobile revenues but Mr. Gundotra said the business was growing 'above expectations', both in terms of usage and revenues."

This research sets the pace for astounding numbers for mobile searches in the future. And with Google's mobile platform, Android, waiting backstage, this certainly won't be the last we hear of Google on the go.

"The world is changing. Users want an Internet without fences. They know how to type in Google.com if they want to get to it," Gundotra said. "Two years ago the operators were still playing the role of gate–keepers but that is no longer the role for them."

"We want every phone to be a Google phone," Gundotra continued. "We are ultimately talking about thousands of devices. The best way to do this would be to get Google's mobile operating system, Android, deployed on as many types of handsets as possible."

Mobile devices sporting the Android software are expected to ship in the second half of 2008.

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