Infospace gives away Find It!
Rating: so what?
By Bena Roberts
InfoSpace is fighting back. Earlier in the year, it had to get rid of over 40% of its workforce after a major US client, Cingular, dumped it.
Infospace’s new strategy is to give away its flagship Find It! service. Find It! Is packed with features includes ‘eyes-free’ spoken directions for GPS functionality and local search services. So what?
I used my Verizon device to test the services at CTIA this year. A local search for the LA convention centre came back with two relevant answers, which is not bad for mobile; but not great measured by any other standard. For example, the search result pointed me to the Grand Wiltshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, which was where I was standing at the time.
GPS glitches apart, InfoSpace needs to spice up its mobile Find It! Offer: it’s gone from being a leader to playing catch-up in the space of a few months. The search engine can now be downloaded for free – but it was only USD 2.99 a month anyhow. Our advice is – think harder.
More information at: http://www.infospacefindit.com
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Infospace contacted me and the Find It! service I tested back in September is not this new J2ME service.
Also the customer loss of media and not mobile search related as I implied.
But - I will be sent a loaded device with the new Find It! feature and I will write about it in The Mobile Search Analyst.
bena