KDDI Adopts Google for Mobile Search

KDDI and Google held a joint press conference today to announce Google search will launch on KDDI/au’s EZ Web mobile platform starting in July. The new service will apparently also include contextual Adwords based on the input text and the companies have stated the tie-up will allow them to test, improve and add more services in the future. The announcement indicates this new tie-up is not aimed exclusively at mobile phones, but will also provide an extensive search service that targets content on fixed-line PCs as well. 

Machine translation below from the original press release in Japanese:

http://www.kddi.com/corporate/news_release/2006/0518/index.html

The search engine of Google was adopted for the first time in Japan, and KDDI Ltd. (The headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo and the President and Representative Director and chairman: Onoderasei) and Google (The headquarters: California state Mountain view, CEO, and chairman: Schmidt Eric) agreed to providing with the retrieval service that integrated contents for mobility and contents for PC in internet services “EZweb” of the au cellular phone that KDDI offered since July this year. Directly accessing information which it looks for at the same time as it becoming easy to look for information more than before by adopting the search engine of Google for “EZweb” becomes possible.

It not only improves but also the retrieval function intended for contents for mobility achieves by this tie-up and providing with wide retrieval service including contents for PC is achieved. In addition, it can access contents corresponding to customer’s purpose more directly by using contents information that KDDI manages. Up to now, when artist information is retrieved, only the link to a relating official contents of each category has been displayed for instance, it can directly access concrete information such as music, the application program, books, and shopping that relate to the artist who retrieved it in the future though it was necessary to retrieve further in each contents.

Moreover, because the text advertisement along the retrieval key word is displayed on the retrieval result page by using the search technique of original Google, offering a lot of information including the advertisement that exists in needs of the customer who uses au in addition to the retrieval result becomes possible.

KDDI and Google are tried to improve the retrieval function rapidly to access all information from the cellular phone easily and accurately in the future so that the customer may use the cellular phone more conveniently by the tie-up in this retrieval field. Moreover, it aims at more and more activation of the mobile Internet market in Japan by promoting the development of reformative service.