[ Gooooogle ]

Google SMS Search arrives in India

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief October 16, 2007 · 2 min read

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SMS And I thought everybody knows that the Philippines is the SMS capital of the world. Still, Google chose to launch its SMS search in India. Now, search has truly landed on the mobile phone.

Now, any phone in India can do a search for business listings, movies, weather, translation, currency conversion, and more via texting 5GOOG.

Text message your search query to 54664 (‘5GOOG’ on most devices) and we’ll text message back results.

Google SMS is a premium SMS service; queries sent to 54664 will be charged at the following rates:
Aircel: Rs. 3.00
Airtel: Rs. 2.00
BPL: Rs. 3.00
BSNL: Rs. 0.80/1.00 (post-paid/pre-paid)
Reliance: Rs. 3.00
Note: Incoming messages from Google are not charged.

Like most CP models, mobile users are charged for every SMS sent but will receive them for free. Mobile operators supported at this time in India are Aircel, Airtel, BPL, BSNL, Reliance.

How much does Google SMS cost?

Charges for this service (outgoing messages only) will vary based on your mobile operator. Please refer to the following for details:

Aircel: Rs. 3.00
Airtel: Rs. 2.00
BPL: Rs. 3.00
BSNL: Rs. 0.80/1.00 (post-paid/pre-paid)
Reliance: Rs. 3.00

Incoming messages from Google are not charged.

I think this is a great service. The closest one we have here locally is EYP’s Luk4 service and ClicktheCity. I really wonder why Google didn’t beta test this service here considering we’re always years ahead from the rest of the world in the SMS field.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

8,007 Articles

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16 Comments

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Ramesh · 18 years ago

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Kevin Yapjoco · 19 years ago

We’re years ahead of the regular search. Simple match and display. That’s what EYP’s LUK4 and CTC is.

On the other hand, Google will be bringing the whole breadth of its huge database to the SMS front. Does LUK4 and CTC have the power to match that?

Besides, India has a deregulated telco industry that has many foreign competitors in the playing field unlike here in the Philippines in which we are purely dominated by local telcos. Our telco industry is like a cartel.

As for the market, we only have about 40% mobile penetration rate. That’s just 30 million Filipinos approximately. Whereas India has about 15% penetration rate or the equivalent of about 150 million Indians.

150 million Indians, deregulated industry. What more could Google look for? I’d say Google is in the right direction. Yahoo’s mobile search via GPRS/WAP browsing barely took off here. I think the direction for mobile search is via SMS and that’s where Google is going.