America Online has begun testing its new AOL Mobile Search Services, which will allow online searches for content, local merchant information, and comparison shopping on U.S. users' mobile handsets via AOL Search, Pinpoint Shopping Search and AOL Yellow Pages, reports CNET. The service is available on any Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phone - the majority of mobile phones on the market.
Yahoo, Google and other search firms are targeting the mobile market to boost audience numbers and advertising revenues.
AOL is partnering with InfoGin, an Israeli company, which has developed technology that automatically adapts web pages to mobile screens.
An AOL spokesperson said that its new service would compare favorably with other already on the market, stressing that error messages and system freezes caused by trying to fit web content onto a small screen would be minimized as a result of the technology.
Google already offers mobile web search and localized listings, and earlier this month Yahoo extended its browser-based mobile search function to all WAP-enabled phones.
