Google Product Search now on WordDial's 'Search' portal

It's no surprise that WordDial owns the dotcom wordnumbers for 'Product' (7763828.com) and 'Froogle' (3766453.com), but it has taken until this month for Google to ask WordDial to include listings for Google Product Search (formerly Froogle).

The link to 'Google Product Search' appears at actually NOT the page at 3766453.com (since Froogle is no longer being marketed), but rather at the portals for Product (7763828.com) and Search (732724.com). WordDial's domain 77638287.com (Products) conveniently redirects to 7763828.com (Product).

Links to Google and its various product offerings have appeared in WordDial's directory portals for a number of years. One of the most interesting domains that Google 'leased' from WordDial is 48273426.com (Guardian). That was part of a temporary marketing strategy whereby Google Inc. "wanted its brand name to be synonymous with the word 'Guardian,' and thus security." Through mid-2007, the three top slots at the 'Search' portal were different mobile URLs to get to Google Mobile - the 'Search' portal was vastly cleaned up in July 2007.

Google is one of the pioneers in the wordnumber concept and since forever (in Internet years) has owned several dotcom wordnumbers of its own brands including 466453.com (Google), and 46245.com (GMail).

Mobile-savvy Slovakians on holiday - Undoing geotargeting of mobile users

A long time ago (in internet years), Google bought the domain 466453.com, which is the dotcom wordnumber for Google. Although Google didn't buy 466453 in other cc TLDs, typing in 466453.com within the internet networks of most countries will forward the user to the locally biased version of the Google homepage formatted for that nation/language.

Yahoo is a slightly different story. Yahoo bought 92466 in nearly every TLD - except for 92466.com, which is owned by WordDial - and also for a significant number of cc TLDs. All of those are forwarded to Yahoo's error page - 'Sorry, the page you requested was not found' - that eventually forwards the user to the Yahoo.com homepage.

Currently, no major search engine provides the capability for mobile users to easily conduct (mobile optimized) searches in a different localized portal than the one the cell phone user (his/her IP) is currently located. Let's say you're in the U.S. and want to search Google Greece on your cell phone. What to do? Certainly there are solutions, such as bookmarking google.gr or multi-tapping 17 times (w/o the dot) for that long url. In the opposite situation - if you were in Greece - you could use 466453.com/ncr (an url that forces a 'no country redirect' to go to Google.com, which is considered the 'global' Google). But there is an even easier solution. DigitURL now provides access to Google of nearly every available language and nationality with numeric-tapping access. Simply go to digiturl.com/466453, or better yet type in that Short DigitURL (466453) on their free downloadable mobile application, and choose the localized version of Google by the nationality you prefer. There aren't enough numbers on a keypad to enable accesskeys for each version of Google, but pressing the down button will get you to Google for many countries, including some that you probably never even heard of.

Google and Yahoo may not be seriously pondering that there are cell phone users who are thinking and researching in terms of global markets, or that a mobile user travelling by air through airports far away from home (i.e. in Iceland) would desperately want to surf on their favorite Google portal (i.e. Google Hungary). Google does provide a link on virtually every localized page (i.e. Google Canada) to go to Google.com, but that is not exactly the solution to our scenario(s).

Yahoo, owing to the fact it owns 92466 in many cc TLDs, has the capability to develop a local unbiased mobile solution to enable a user to 'break out' of 'geotargeting.' Unlike with Google, Yahoo could provide its users with the capability to access Yahoo in any geography by typing in 92466 and the ccTLD. Certainly Google could develop an easy solution (or buy up 466453 in every ccTLD) and most likely has a more commonsense solution in the works. Until then, DigitURL, preferrably via its free mobile software, is the easiest means for mobile-savvy Slovakians on holiday in Budapest to do some currency conversions the only way they know how - on google.sk.

Update1: At least one of Yahoo's 92466.[cctld] properties doesn't eventually get forwarded to Yahoo.com. 92466.cn redirects to Yahoo's typical 'Sorry, the page you requested was not found' error page in English, however suggests 'You may also want to try cn.yahoo.com' and after a considerable wait actually forwards to that url.

Google homepage 411

Google Blogoscoped blogged about 'everything you always wanted to know about the Google homepage but were afraid to ask' yesterday and answered its own question, Is there a special mobile version of the Google homepage around?, with the following answer:

Yes, there is, and you might be automatically directed to it when accessing Google.com – or 466453.com (the numbers when you type “google” on certain hand phones) – though you can also view it on a desktop browser. Also, a special version of the mobile variant is available for the iPhone. (Though in theory, special mobile versions aren’t needed as HTML was designed to work across different systems... but that’s just the theory.)

'Spell with keypad,' Google says. And the mobile world awakes.

Google has breathed the first gust of air into its master mobile plan. It has spoken the simple, unassuming words ' spell with keypad ' and, without knowing it, millions of mobile phone users have been audience to Google's quiet initiation into the greatest technological revolution that the world has ever seen. What is so significant about those three words? On Google's cheatsheat page for GOOG-411, the free (ad-supported) directory assistance service launched by Google, it discusses the option for users to enter a business name or category by using the cell phone keypad. The exact prompt, after you call 1-800-GOOG-411 and utter a city and state and press 1, is:

To spell the business name or category using your keypad just enter one number for each letter. For example, to spell Taxi, you'd enter 8-2-9-4 and just leave out spaces and punctuation.

Folks, this is no normal text messaging. This is the world of wordnumbers. Google wants you to ' spell with keypad ' by pressing each key just once. Press the number equivalent of each letter you want to spell with and, tada! Google uses on its web cheatsheet the example of 'TOYS would be 8697.' In this case, the 8697 is the wordnumber for Toys. The actual domain 8697.com would be the dot com wordnumber.

So what's the big whoop? Firstly, Google is actively using its Google Number Search (GNS) technology in an active application (finally). Google Number Search was a mobile search experiment that enabled users to search the internet using wordnumbers. Google shut down GNS in 2000 after poor uptake of the technology but has kept the domain, 466453.com, which was the dedicated domain for GNS searching. GNS is what interprets numeric strings entered in the GOOG411 application into words that it matches against yellow pages directories. Google has for long maintained quasi-inactive applications of GNS, for instance the operators ALLNUM and NUM, which work in all Google search products - Jamptap was the first to report on the existence of those operators.

Secondly, Google is using an updated GNS lexicon for GOOG-411. The NUM and ALLNUM operators are still linked to a lexicon of common words, company names, etc.. that hasn't been updated since 2000 (i.e., the wordnumber for Cingular doesn't work with NUM or ALLNUM).


The real truth - so we think - is that Google is planning on relaunching its Google Number Search system. This ' spell with keypad ' mention is a rare one for Google. It indicates a whole lot. It means that Google is ironing out the kinks in its GNS and furthermore testing the waters to see if end users will take up the idea of a wordnumber - entering in numbers as replacements for letters on a mobile phone keypad - for mobile search. If Google sees - based on the data they record, keep and analyze - that users don't mind spelling out search entries with numeric tapping, then there is no reason to believe that Google won't start prodding mobile search users to do the same thing. That is where the revolution will happen since mobile search could one day capture a market many times larger than the PC search market and the advertising revenue potential is unthinkably large. The problem has been the fact that texting on mobile phones is very cumbersome. Google holds the key to solve that mobile search problem. It lies in three simple words: spell with keypad.

In case you may be wondering, the dotcom wordnumber for Toys is taken by Worddial.com

Baidu listed on WordDial SEARCH portal

Update: (11.21.2007) Baidu has fallen to last (sixth) place at 732724.com

WordDial, the New Zealand internet company that owns more numeric domains than there are books in a typical local library, has a new client: Baidu, the Chinese search giant. Recent news has indicated that Baidu is stepping up its mobile efforts and, as Jamptap just discovered, Baidu has bought its way into fourth place on WordDial's premiere SEARCH portal. The Baidu link appears below those for the three U.S. search engine giants (Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo) and above ASK and AOL search.

WordDial's SEARCH portal is one of thousands of portals set up by the company that allow quick access to mobile friendly sites from users' mobile keypads. The premise behind the site is that of the wordnumber. A wordnumber is the numeric equivalent of a word using a phone keypad as the frame of reference - for instance the worddnumber for SEARCH is 732724. WordDial owns a staggering number of dot com worddnumbers for generic words, most of which will take users to relevant hyperlinked directories/portals.

WordDial doesn't just own dot com wordnumbers for generic words. It also owns the same for phrases, places, and even some brands. For instance WordDial owns the dot com wordnumber for Yahoo (92466.com). (It - owing to an agreement with Yahoo - forwards all traffic from 92466.com to the SEARCH portal (732724.com).) WordDial also owns the dot com worddnumber for Live (5483.com) and that portal - owing to an agreement with Microsoft - has a link to Windows Live Search for Mobile/MSN Mobile above a link to a Vodafone site.

WordDial, however, doesn't own the dot com wordnumbers for Google (466453.com, which is owned by Google and goes to Google.com), and also ASK and Baidu.

The idea of the wordnumber dates back to the early days of the internet. It was in 1999 that Google launched its Google Number Search (GNS) that prompted users to visit 466453.com and type in urls or search phrases as wordnumbers. The basic functions are still written into Google's search technology as operators ALLNUM and NUM. Jamptap has long speculated that Google will relaunch its GNS product again in the future. When it does, enterprises like WordDial will pat themselves on the back for being patient with a userbase that that has largely ignored its efforts to popularize (and profit from) the wordnumber.

Land rush for pure numeric domains in Singapore (746427673)

(Before y'all get excited, 746427673.com (Singapore.com) is taken by Worddial.)

Pure numeric domains aren't register-able in many countries. The reason is because in the early days of the internet it was thought that a purely numeric url would be confused with a numeric ip address by computer systems. That paranoia has carried over into the present.

Soon, the national domain name registry in Singapore will allow pure numeric domain registration for the first time. It's no big whoop except that some people on the sidelines are finally catching on to what we at Jamptap have been talking about for a while. Writes a blogger with insidedomaining.blogspot.com:

'Numeric domains used for the mobile internet could be an effective mobile internet marketing tool. It's easier typing in numbers on a cell phone's handset compared to the hassle of typing in letter characters on a mobile phone's keypad. Numeric domains could also be used as vanity domain names in a similar way vanity phone numbers are used. Two digit numeric domain names will be aggressively sought after and perhaps the numeric keypad translations of popular keywords. The iPhone has a dot-com button for faster access to the mobile web...'

Good thinking! With all this talk of reducing our carbon footprints by lowering the energy consumption of servers and cars and buildings, how about reducing the number of taps applied by the hundreds of millions of SMS and mobile web users worldwide. Think of all the calories saved! Calories come from food. Food takes energy to grow. Energy is created at the cost of global warming and the polar bears. So, we're talking about saving polar bears by starting to use numeric keypad translations of popular keywords and also brands like Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Google, etc... Type in 466453.com instead of g-ooo-ooo-g-lll-ee (4666666455533) (and dot com) and you can feel better that you're doing your part to ensure the survival of our white, furry friends in the artic. (There's more than an ounce of truth in what I'm saying if you really think about it.)

Great frustrations on an un-shoestring budget

Eric Schmidt of Google at 2007 third-quarter earnings call:

"On the mobile search side, our mobile searches are increasing rapidly compared to a year ago. They are growing more quickly than non-mobile searches. They are still a very small percentage of total searches, which is of great frustration to us...' [Emphasis ours]

Here's the answer to your troubles, Schmidt:



Remember Google Number Search?

466453 now has a logo!

I found this logo that some talented person posted on their blog:

HERE

What is the significance of 466453? Each digit corresponds respectively to letters in the word 'Google' on your cell phone keypad. When entering the url 466453.com on your cell phone, it goes to Google.com. That saves you a bunch of multi-tapping.

Google apparently isn't ready to share this knowledge far and wide since it is still pointing mobile users towards a version of the traditional url (google.com).

Wordnumbers and the electric car: good ideas never die

As we reported in March, a small part of Yahoo's emerging strategy to become the number one mobile search engine was an aggressive foray into the numeric domain name arena. In March, Yahoo struck a partnership deal with WordDial, a New Zealand company that owns hundreds of thousands of numeric domain names including Yahoo's wordnumber, which is 92466.com. (The wordnumber concept is one that never fully took off. The credit for its origin might go to Google, Inc., which owns their .com wordnumber - 466453.com - and actually put it into use back in 2001 when their Google Number Search free service was live for several months. Since 2001, every now and then a blogger resurrects the same old question - 'Why does Google own 466453.com' - and eventually learns anew the basic concept of the wordnumber and some of its practical benefits to the mobile search experience.)

Although Google hasn't profited in any measurable terms by owning 466453.com (466453.com had an Alexa ranking of 4,181,472 in October 2006), which Google simply forwards to its main search page, there still exists a very real possibility that wordnumbers could be winning tickets in the near future. As cell phone manufacturers begin to build in hot-keys (that can be programmed to add '.com' to a URL entry) or even add '.com' buttons to keypads, users will eventually realize that multi-tapping to spell out words on a mobile phone keypad will be a waste of their time and energy.

In March, Yahoo wanted to get in on the action and we suspect paid a premium price to get WordDial to activate 92466.com and resolve it to one of WordDial's premiere portals at 732724.com, which is the .com wordnumber for SEARCH. Back in March, Yahoo was the number one listing at 732724.com. We noticed this week that Yahoo's placement has fallen. It has not only fallen below three distinct Google mobile search links, but also the link to Live Search for Mobile.

The likely explanation for this change is statistics. There couldn't have been more than a thousand or two unique visitors in a one-month period to 92466.com. And when Yahoo execs scoffed at the poor stats, they probably decided it wasn't worth the money to be number one at WordDial's premiere portal. Yahoo hasn't given up; they still are listed on WordDial's SEARCH portal - at number five - and also listed on the nearly 10 other WordDial portals as we mentioned our March 31 post.

So, who's at fault for the lackluster experience of the 'wordnumber.' It is the same old argument: will a concept evolve into a trend because users demand it (i.e., demand an easier way to enter mobile searches) or because providers market the concept. Certainly, none of the three big search companies have done anything to market the idea of the wordnumber. A simple google or blog search will reveal that the only marketing over the past year or two of Yahoo's and Google's .com wordnumber has been us, Jamptap. So, then, why does Yahoo and Google, and other internet companies, bother to retain their partnership agreements with WordDial? Our best guess is that they want to penetrate the New Zealand mobile market and WordDial is one of the best places to do that.

What it all comes down to is marketing. Who wants a brand name - which in the case of Google or Yahoo accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars or more as Goodwill on the balance sheet - to suddenly be synonymous with a string of numbers? It's a daring move to associate a nearly billion dollar asset to a string of un-trademarkable numbers. However, Porsche, Disney and Levi's (jeans), among other companies, have accomplished this association without peril to their profits. The idea probably makes Yahoo and Google execs jittery for the above reason and also the likelihood that users will be easily confused by the association of a brand name like Yahoo to a string of numbers. But that is becoming less and less the case ever since those companies began marketing their SMS codes, 92466 and 466453, respectively. Note that Google's shortcode was 46645 for many years before Google recently changed it to 466453.

As Google and Yahoo plan to roll out a slew of new mobile products over the next few years, it is inevitable that efficiency of the wordnumber concept will prevail. Speaking of efficiency, who knew back in the early 1900s - after the energy-efficient electric car idea was killed - that in 2007 we would all be hyped about electric (or hybrid) vehicles? Good ideas, they never die.

92466.com vs. 466453.com

The big news here on Jamptap, which has had a lame existence over the past year for no other reason than the big Internet companies have lacked the courage and ingenuity to try something new, is that Yahoo has apparently signed a lease with Worddial for 92466.com. WordDial bought 92466.com before Yahoo could. And this apparently pissed Yahoo off (when they found out) because Yahoo proceeded to buy every 92466 in every TLD around the world. When you typed in 92466.com on your mobile browser until this week, you were forwarded to the SEARCH (732724.com) page of WordDial, which provided links to Google, Motionbridge, Live search and others, but not Yahoo.

WordDial was smart. And Yahoo was holding out, but in the end knew that WordDial would never sell 92466.com to them. WordDial is a company based in New Zealand that owns over 1 million numeric domain names (dot coms) and has been developing a simple technology to allow easy access to information on the web using just the numbers on your phone keypad. They have little intention - although I can't be sure of this - of selling, since their business model is about 'content partnership,' which is a fancy term for charging fees to be included in a mobile directory listing. So...when I checked today, just days after the launch of Yahoo's new mobile search application, 'OneSearch,' there was one new link on the top of the list at 732724.com: Yahoo.

Brilliant. Yahoo knew that it needed to survive by at least matching Google at its mobile services, even if that meant paying whichever asking price for a content partnership agreement with WordDial.

So, where are the headlines? There aren't any and probably won't be any. This whole numeric domain thing has never had much success, yet. Google tried it in 2001 with their Google Number Search. Google's GNS was not used very much and so Google stopped updating a crucial part of their servers that link to GNS searches, which can still be performed if you type a series of numbers after allnum: or num: in Google. But Yahoo knows the wave of the future. Yahoo will never be a downloadable application that is menu-driven. Yahoo will always require the user to type in Yahoo in their browser. When it comes to cell phones, key-pad input is a big deal. It is cumbersome. But it is very easy to switch to number-mode and start pressing numbers, instead of multi-tapping to type out letters in a domain name. Thus, while Yahoo(.com) is 11 keypad taps, 92466(.com) is 5 presses. 466453.com is a 'savings' of 7 taps over Google.com. If you think of the millions of mobile users that will be accessing Google and Yahoo each day in the near future, they could be cutting their key pad entries in half using the numeric domains 466453.com, and 92466.com. A search engine that doesn't follow suit could lose customers for no other reason than it would take users an extra 5 or 6 keypad presses to get to that search engine's homepage.

So, the fight in the ring between Yahoo and Google is more vigorous than even it appears in the presses. Will both companies begin to advertise these numeric domain portals? Will other internet companies follow suit? Will domain speculators start buying up numeric domain names?