Google: iPhone traffic dominates mobile search

Web services giant Google this week said Apple's iPhone is responsible for 50 times the number of mobile searches of any rival handset, with Google's mobile head Vic Gundotra forecasting that mobile search will soon overtake traditional web search if other device makers make mobile web access as user-friendly. Speaking to The Financial Times, Gundotra said he first assumed the iPhone search data was a mistake: "[We] made our engineers check the logs again," he said.

At Mobile World Congress, T-Mobile announced it will drop Google in favor of new mobile search partner Yahoo--according to Gundotra, operator deals similar to the T-Mobile partnership are becoming less vital as subscribers browse beyond the confines of the carrier deck. "The world is changing. Users want an internet without fences. They know how to type in Google.com if they want to get to it. Two years ago the operators were still playing the role of gate­keepers, but that is no longer the role for them."

Gundotra added that Google maintains no plans to build its own handset based on the company's fledgling Android mobile OS.  "We want every phone to be a Google phone," he said. "We are ultimately talking about thousands of devices."

For more on Google's mobile outlook:
- read this Financial Times article

Related articles:
T-Mobile Germany: iPhone galvanizing mobile data use
Apple counts down Top 10 iPhone web apps
China Mobile, Apple break off iPhone negotiations