Microsoft News Tracker

Did someone declare that today was mobile phone day? On top of the news from Microsoft/ZenZui and Yahoo, it turns out that Google chose today to release a new search for mobile phones:

For the last few weeks, some of our users have been test-driving our new mobile search and providing us with feedback so we can make it better. Now, we’ve actually been using your feedback to improve our mobile search since 2001. But the steps we’ve taken recently have everyone here pretty excited, as they increase the power of our search technology, helping you get the answers you need with minimal effort and distraction.

Starting today, we’re making our new mobile search openly available, so everyone can take it for a spin. The next time you visit Google.com on your phone, you’ll see a link that will take you to a mobile search experience that’s more tailored to your needs …

More details by following the link, but the gist is that the results are more attuned to your location and to mobile aware websites in the search results. Is it better than Yahoo’s new oneSearch? Try them both out and decide for yourself.

Besides announcing the acquisition of devBiz at VSLive!, Microsoft also laid out a roadmap for their upcoming development tool releases:

Visual Studio code name “Orcas”

• Beta 1 - 2nd Quarter, CY 2007
• Beta 2 - Mid-year CY 2007
• RTM - TBA

Visual Studio Team System code name “Rosario”

• To be released following “Orcas”

Follow the link for feature details and also the details on upcoming Team Foundation Server Power Tools, Team Edition for Database Professionals Power Tools, and the Team Edition for Database Professionals Service Pack 1 projected to be available in 2Q07.

Yahoo today launched their play in advertising for cell phones:

Yahoo! Inc. today announced the launch of Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services, a suite of services designed to enable publishers to increase the discovery, distribution and monetization of their content on mobile phones. The new services publishers will have access to are the Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network, Mobile Content Engine, Mobile Media Directory and Mobile Site Submit.

Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services are part the company’s initiative to deliver tools to advertisers, publishers and network operators.
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The Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network will allow mobile publishers to have syndicated advertising served on their mobile content and services. Publishers will be able to select the ad formats they want to have run, such as display, sponsored links, video or in-game placements.
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The Yahoo! Mobile Content Engine will enable publishers to bring their content to Yahoo!’s mobile audience. It will also help enable publishers who do not have a mobile site or only have a limited mobile offering to quickly distribute their content to consumers on their mobile phones.
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The Yahoo! Mobile Media Directory will allow publishers to make their mobile media content accessible directly through Yahoo! oneSearch. Publishers could submit a catalog of their content such as ringtones, games, video and applications.
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The Yahoo! Mobile Site Submit will allow publishers to provide information about their mobile site, such as a description and relevant tags, to ensure that their sites are accurately indexed and available to consumers through Yahoo! oneSearch. For example, a hotel could submit their mobile site, including description and tag, enabling weekend travelers to find their location and see if they still have rooms available through Yahoo! oneSearch.

The Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services will go live today across 19 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, US and Vietnam.

Yahoo gets points for a big push into what is expected to be a lucrative business, but it’s clearly early days yet:

Yahoo’s network of publishers at this point is tiny — three Web services, including MobiTV, a video service to be used with cellphones; Opera, a maker of Web browsers; and Go2, a Yellow Pages site. But the company said it planned to expand the network quickly over the next few months.

“We are being very aggressive on mobile and moving extremely fast to get the building blocks in place,” said Steve Boom, Yahoo’s senior vice president for broadband and mobile. “We felt that business services for publishers is something that was lacking.”

Yahoo, which has fallen a distant second behind Google in Internet search and search-related advertising, has been busy promoting new mobile search software, which it introduced in January. The software, called oneSearch, is intended to allow users to quickly find information like sports scores and weather reports without scrolling through a long list of Web links.
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Advertising on sites arrayed for mobile phones is a tiny market, but it is expected to grow quickly, and a number of companies, including the leading wireless carriers, are jockeying for position. Yahoo and Google have both been delivering ads linked to search results on cellphones since last year, but Yahoo is the first of the major Internet firms to introduce a mobile ad network.

You may recall that oneSearch was expanded to most mobile phones just last week.

Microsoft has announced another spinoff under their IP Ventures program:

Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of ZenZui, an independent company with the mission of transforming the way people engage, consume and interact with Web content through a revolutionary mobile user experience and information ecosystem. ZenZui’s Zooming User Interface, a technology patented by Microsoft, was initially developed by the Microsoft Research lab in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft’s IP Ventures helps startups and growing companies speed their time to market through access to Microsoft innovations. ZenZui worked with IP Ventures to acquire the technology and assistance in securing venture capital funding to help launch its company.
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ZenZui’s core technology brings advanced information visualization techniques out of the research lab and onto mobile phones and into the hands of mobile device operators, marketers and consumers. ZenZui’s high-frame rate Zooming User Interface employs up to 36 individual “tiles” that are selected and customized by users to reflect their interests and lifestyle with relevant content, interactive communications and fresh data.
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ZenZui has closed a Series-A financing round of $12 million from Oak Investment Partners and Hunt Ventures. Wireless entrepreneur Tom Huseby of SeaPoint Ventures acts as chairman of the board. Leading ZenZui as CEO is Eric Hertz, who brings 22 years of international wireless experience to the venture.

If the description of the technology is somewhat obtuse, this demo video will help as will Nick Gonzalez’s description from Techcrunch:

The whole service is a a clever way to increase deck placement on mobile phones. Deck placement is the set of default applications that come on mobile phones. It’s the most coveted space on your mobile and distribution through deck placement makes or breaks most mobile apps. Currently deck placement is hard to come by because it’s determined by carriers at the highest levels and often includes some revenue sharing. ZenZui application has essentially turned one spot into 36 (they hope to make it 1000).

This would all be well and good if ZenZui wasn’t essentially doing the same thing carriers are doing right now, charging for placement. You see, ZenZui isn’t a new way to surf the web on your phone, but rather a new way to surf ZenZui’s web on your phone. It’s all elegantly summed up in this chart showing marketers and developers piping content into your phone.

Each of the 36 spots currently included with ZenZui are powered by content partners, such as Zillow, Eventful, Kayak, OTOlabs, Avenue A, Razorfish and Traffic.com. They will be monetized using “well-established advertising principles like CPA and CPM (we call it CPZ – Cost Per Zoom)”. To encourage development, ZenZui will split ad revenue with widget developers.

I knew there was sure to be some money in the deal somewhere. Also, although it is not spelled out explicity in the press release, it is being generally reported that Microsoft reatins an equity stake in the company.