Google Brings Product Search To iPhone, Android

Google wants to make it easier for consumers to get detailed information on products on a handset, and it has extended Google Product Search to the Android operating system and Apple's iPhone.

The service enables mobile users to get detailed information about a product's price, ratings, reviews, and product details from a mobile browser. To use Product Search, users need to put in the name of the product into the Google search bar in the browser, and a "shopping" link will appear in the search result. Clicking on this tab will then bring the user to a dedicated product page.

"Google Product Search for mobile gives you the same product information that you would get at your computer," says a post on Google's mobile blog. "And when you click on products like electronics and video games, you'll see dedicated product pages that include rating charts and technical specifications."

The move could make it easier for mobile users to find products to buy online, and this would fit in with the search giant's ambitions to aggressively extend its advertising platform to the mobile space. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said he expects mobile advertising to eventually produce more revenue than ads on the normal Web.

The simultaneous launch on Android and iPhone could signal a shift in Google's mobile strategy, as it previously released new mobile features on Apple's handset first. The Linux-based operating system is expected to be on a slate of new handsets this year, and Google expects 2009 to be a good year for the mobile operating system.

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