Yahoo adds voice search to mobile Internet service

ahoo on Wednesday unveiled enhanced oneSearch software that lets people surf the Internet by speaking into their mobile telephones.

Along with letting people make online queries by saying what they are looking for, the application features an "assistant" for written searches that deduces what people want from the first few letters typed.

"With Yahoo oneSearch 2.0, we are fundamentally changing the way consumers use the Internet on their mobile phones," said Yahoo's Connected Life division vice president Marco Boerries.

Yahoo has partnered with 29 mobile telephone service carriers, representing 600 million customers, since the first version of oneSearch launched in early 2007, according to Boerries.

The second-generation oneSearch software is free for download and installation to mobile telephones linked to the Internet.

Yahoo rivals Google and Microsoft, along with US telecom giants AT&T and Verizon, offer toll-free numbers that US mobile telephone users can call to get business contact information gleaned from the Internet.

Google's ad-supported service at 1.800.GOOG.411 offers to connect callers free to businesses and even email them directions.

Source: AFP