In what could be the development that frees the world wide web from its desktop imprisonment, search giant Google has revealed that it is working on a mobile search engine that will locate mobile content from a variety of content providers.

The company already offers a version of its web search tool for mobile phones. But the new engine will be able to retrieve content from behind telecommunications and content providers’ ‘walled gardens’, usually only searchable by subscribers.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the company intends to charge advertisers for high rankings in the search results. It has been working with content providers in order to index their content, work which has run into one or two technical difficulties, the report says.

Unlike on the ‘desktop web’, most of content on the ‘mobile web’ is owned by telcos and operators. By providing a middle man between the various operators and the user, Google will be in a lucrative position.

The search engine will, however, extend the shelf life of the walled garden model, even though it has generally been debunked with regard to the ‘desktop web’. And that means that a mobile web as free and open as the ‘desktop web’ is still some way off.

Further reading

Information Age analysis - The talking web