Search on mobile is no longer a frustrating wait delivering irrelevant results thanks to the slick Yahoo! onesearchTM made available on AT&Ts on-deck MEdia Net portal. It is an intuitive search platform that returns not only the movie you are searching for but the show times at local theatre, reviews, news, and cast information.

Yahoo! oneSearchTM has over 60 global partnerships and is the leader in mobile search. This partnership with AT&T and Yellowpages.com will reach tens of millions of mobile Internet users in the United States and provide advertisers with reach and scale.

Not long ago mobile advertising could be summed up as “text and win” competitions, local coupons, and SMS programs. The results were dismal to say the least. But now with billions of mobile web pages visited by consumers every month in the US and throughout the world mobile advertising has newer and faster legs.

To measure the effectiveness of a mobile campaign it starts with basic parameters. This includes:

• Reach and frequency – measures the number of unique users and the number of impressions for those unique users
• Rich media – measures video and audio completion, the time spent viewing, replay counts, and viral measurement for when people share with their friends
• Direct response -measure  cost per click (CPC), cost per lead (CPL) or cost per sale (CPS) or customer retention
• Branding measurement – measures ad recall, purchase intent, or transactions

The interactivity of the mobile space provides a level of consumer engagement not possible before. Better metrics provide a major breakthrough for advertisers. However, like any advertising campaign the key to success rests on the ability of the advertiser to understand the needs of the consumer in this space and to engage them in an appropriate and meaningful way.

Downloading a Google Application to meet the needs of a customer is secondary in the lives of so many small businesses. It seems we all have joined the ‘App Happy’ generation who can’t get enough of these convenient applications. Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Mail, Google Talk and now there is Google Chrome. So what is this? According to Google Founder Sergery Brin, Google Chrome is designed as a “fast engine to run web apps”.

While critics say it maybe a little early to download Google Chrome until the security holes and privacy issues are addressed, there is definitely a need for a faster, simpler and more stable browser that is flexible in terms of user interface and capable of handling complex graphics.

Microsoft is the current dominant player in the browser market as Internet Explorer is the choice of over 70% of internet surfers. This is followed by Mozilla’s Firefox with 19% and Apple’s Safari with 6% percent marketshare. When asked to comment on Google’s announcement competitor views were very different.

Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft’s General Manager for Internet Explorer is quoted in the New York Times as saying: ” It’s not the first or best browser for web applications. Its the first from Google”. He then added that Microsoft is soon to launch its 8th version of Internet Explorer. John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla said that Google’s Chrome will help further define their company’s browser Firefox because internet users will consider alternatives. Firefox is also open source and recently Mozilla released a protoype “Ubiquity” that attempts to make common web tasks quick and easy.

There is no question that lots is happening in the browser world and the latest announcement supports the view that in the next few years the digital lives of computer users won’t be reliant on software but increasingly on applications available over the web. Then the task becomes which “App makes you Happy” ?