January 15, 2008 at 11:22 pm · Authored by Ricky · Filed under Mobile Services

According to The Kelsey Group, a leading research group on different types of local search and Yellow Pages, the mobile search market is about to explode, with handsets such as the iPhone and others that make it easy to search the internet from your mobile phone. Kelsey Group’s Senior VP of Interactive Local Media, Matt Booth, suggests that by 2012 (a mere 4 years), revenue from ad-sponsored directory assistance and mobile-ads is estimated to be up to $1.4 billion.

This growth will be fueled by the introduction of new ways to present search results, as well as innovative methods for consumers to perform searches from their mobiles, including speech to text and other alternative input methods.

John du Pre Gauntt, a senior analyst at eMarketer, maintains that ‘the leading mobile search player would offer users a combination of the right information and the ability to act on it.’

$1.4 billion, eh? Makes me want to go setup m.searchmobile.com, what about you?