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Google launched a mobile version of its personalized homepage offering last week, allowing users to display stock quotes, news headlines, Gmail, weather, and selected RSS feeds on handheld devices, writes TechWeb News. The content is optimized for small screens and low bandwidth. Those who already have a personalized homepage can use the web browser of their cell phones to access Google and select the "personalized home" link to sign in. The service works with phones that have an XHTML-capable browser.

The launch came a week after Google announced that users would be able to access its search page via Motorola cell phones, points out Red Herring.

It adds that Google also added access to Google Talk and Google Local from BlackBerry handhelds.

"If anyone is going to make the internet over cell phones something that is useful, it will have to be a company like Google or Yahoo," Peter Gorham, an independent industry analyst, is quoted by Red Herring as saying.

Earlier this month, Yahoo also announced its mobile effort, which will be initially available on Nokia's Series 60 smartphones.