Surprise! Google Dominates Mobile Search

The mobile search market is booming, and Google is taking no small part in the growth market.

According to comScore, 20.8 million U.S. mobile subscribers and 4.5 million European mobile phone subscribers accessed search during the month of July. That's an increase of 68 and 38 percent from June 2007, respectively.

The number of mobile searchers is still just a small fraction of mobile users. The U.K. had the highest number of mobile users accessing search  at 9.5 percent of all subscribers. The U.S. came in at 8.2 percent.

But Google has maintained its dominance in search among cellphone users. The search giant has a 60 percent share of mobile searchers in all countries measured by comScore M:Metrics. Yahoo! ranks second in Germany, Italy, UK and the U.S. In the U.S., Yahoo's mobile search penetration is 34.6 percent, more than double its presence in most other countries.

Google may have the iPhone to thank there. According to Alistair Hill, an analyst at comScore: "The number of U.S. users accessing mobile search has more than doubled as a result of expanded 3G penetration and smartphone adoption, as well as the proliferation of flat-rate data plans. We have also seen a substantial improvement to the mobile search offerings in the U.S. market."

by Meghan Keane for Wired.com

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