Leading mobile media and technology company InfoSpace, Inc. has added spoken turn-by-turn directions, integrated performance-based advertising and 15 million points of interest to InfoSpace Find It!, the first comprehensive location-based application which helps consumers easily and quickly find everything from nearby restaurants and movie times to maps and driving directions.
Announced at CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2006 in Los Angeles, the enhanced version of InfoSpace Find It! is now available to carriers as a downloadable J2ME mobile application, and is also available to consumers as an online local search site at www.infospacefindit.com.
InfoSpace is the first to integrate performance-based advertising to a mobile local search product based on relevancy of the advertisers to the consumer, providing increased exposure to thousands of businesses advertising with InfoSpace. The new InfoSpace Find It! also adds millions of listings and synchs up the content and ad inventories between its online and mobile versions. Significant mobile user experience enhancements include:
– Spoken turn-by-turn directions: Eyes-free navigation now directs users to their location.
– Expanded content library: Find nearby events, Wi-Fi hotspots, local entertainment, golf courses and more than 15 million other points of interest.
– Refreshed listings: Content is refreshed weekly. Outdated listings are removed to keep the data as relevant and useful as possible.
The original InfoSpace Find It! application first launched on select Sprint handsets in March 2006, as the first comprehensive location-based service application for mobile, featuring thousands of listings distilled into top six categories — Dine Out, Go Out, Shop, Travel, Health and Services. The application quickly distinguished itself for its simple user interface, GPS and LBS capabilities, and low $2.99 per month subscription cost.
“This next release of InfoSpace Find It! continues to head in the right direction. The underlying content is beefy, and the addition of spoken turn-by-turn directions demonstrates a continued clear commitment to deliver a quality user experience,” said Neal Polachek, senior vice president at The Kelsey Group.
Relevancy remains paramount in InfoSpace Find It! In addition to pinpointing a user’s location through automated GPS or location systems, zip code, address, intersect, or preset entries, the product takes into account user preferences to deliver the most useful results in the fewest number of clicks.
“We are focused on delivering the most user-friendly mobile local search application possible while also generating performance-based advertising revenue. We’re continually looking to add features which reduce clicks and increase convenience and relevance to the user while providing new advertising opportunities to our partners,” said Rod Diefendorf, vice president of online and local search.
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