Local mobile search services are growing in popularity, and nearly 1.3 billion mobile-phone users are expected to use local mobile search services by 2013, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
The market could reach $4.8 billion by 2013.
Western Europe and North America are poised for the strongest growth in the segment as all countries in those regions have established local digital information suppliers, such as yellow and white pages, city guides, restaurant and entertainment guides and traffic information. These regions also have good on- and off-road mapping data with coverage of points of interest, said the firm.
Juniper predicts ad-supported local search will be the key to success of the segment, but advertising overload could become a challenge. Local search is expected to account for 43% of cumulative mobile search advertising between 2008 and 2013.
Ad support to drive $4.8B mobile search market by 2013
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