Dialing Google 411 is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3

As most of you know Google announced the introduction of their new Google 411 service. We thought it might be interesting to see how long it would take to integrate this service into a mobile browser. (Answer: about 30 minutes).

The two images below show how it’s done using 5o9’s Context manager. We built two examples one in English and one in German. As you can see the menus in the browser change dynamically based on the context of the user. It also illustrates how to get to relevant content quicker than using the dialer on a mobile phone.

For example dialing 1-800-466-4411 requires 11 clicks – using our context manager only requires 3. One to launch the browser, one to select menu and one to select Google 411 – it then automatically dials the number for you.

Micro-applications for your Smartphone?

Interesting article on News.com this morning (link) – Zander hails the cell phone’s future

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Motorola's chief executive is traveling lighter these days, and he predicts the rest of the mobile work force will too. PC-like features are being ported over to cell phones with increasing frequency, pushing the phone down the same path that led to the PC's dominant role in home and office technology, Motorola's Ed Zander said during his keynote speech here at Software 2007, an industry conference. "We're making a bet that what happened to PCs will happen to these (smart phones)," said Zander,

A movement is afoot within the software industry to create micro-applications, such as customer relationship management software, forecasting systems and revenue tracking software, and load them onto these handheld devices, Zander said.

It was the last paragraph that caught my attention which talks about micro applications. Essentially you’re talking about how do businesses extend their Web services to mobile customers and employees?

Here’s how it could be done… pay special attention to the first image. It has NO hyperlinks on the page. Essentially it looks and behaves like a “micro-application”. You can click on the Menu option and a new set of menu’s appear. (second image). The micro-application is nothing more than a browser tied to a enterprises Web services infrastructure. The subtle yet HUGE difference is that the browser is now behaving more like a application that it is a browser. Of course switch back to http://www.5o9inc.com/mobile.html and it behaves like a browser.

You don't need to load micro-apps on the Smartphone - just use your browser as the app and have it tie into your existing backed Web services. When the user lands on your portal page the browser then turns into a traditional application with a rich set of menus to navigate from.