| "SAN FRANCISCO, April 19 � Searching the Web on a mobile phone has been a lot like getting online via dial-up modem circa 1995: slow, tedious and not terribly useful. Typing on tiny buttons, squinting at a list of links and clicking through to a page that won�t display properly is enough to test anyone�s patience." " The head of Yahoo’s mobile strategy, Marco Boerries, standing, said overcoming difficult Web navigation would be a challenge. " " have all trained their sights on cellphones, which they see as the next great battleground in the Internet search wars. They have thrown tens of millions of dollars and armies of programmers at the problem, seeking to develop tools that people on the move can actually use. " "In recent months, the three search giants have introduced a new breed of search services that emphasize quick answers to urgent questions: Where is the best local pizzeria? How did the Yankees do against the A�s? What�s the fastest way to get to the airport? " "The services are beginning to carry small ads related to searches like those that have turned desktop Internet search into a gold mine. " "�The biggest growth areas are clearly going to be in the mobile space,� Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, said when asked about new opportunities at a conference here this week. In case his point wasn�t clear, Mr. Schmidt drove it home: �Mobile, mobile, mobile.�" "The new offerings from the search companies are just the beginning. Search services that pinpoint a phone�s location using the Global Positioning System or that accept voice commands are coming out of the labs. Google has gone so far as to build a prototype phone with its own software inside, according to one person who has seen it." "But between the search giants and phone users stand some powerful gatekeepers � cellphone carriers like Cingular, " ". On the PC, Web surfers can easily go to the search engine of their choice, but this takes longer on a cellphone. Carriers have the ability to dictate which search engine is easy to access and which is not through placement in their phones� menus. " "�Search will be even more of a choke point on the mobile device than on the PC because navigation is so hard,� said Marco Boerries, the senior vice president in charge of Yahoo�s wireless efforts." "After spending billions of dollars building wireless networks, building relationships with consumers and subsidizing the cost of phones, the last thing carriers want is to miss out on profits from the mobile search business. By and large, they have been eyeing the major
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