Taptu is a new kind of search engine for mobile phones, being launched today at the Mobile 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. Taptu uses a new technique which they call "Social Assisted Search" (SAS) - it combines algorithms with human feedback (from which it derives "social relevancy scores") to deliver the results. Taptu's aim is to enable users to search and find useful content "in 10 taps or less." Taptu CEO Stephen Ives claims that for other mobile search services it “takes an average of 30 taps and scrolls and two-and-a-half minutes to get to good results."
The other notable feature of Taptu is that it includes rich media - e.g. playable audio and video. Here's an example:
In the Mobile Launch Pad Segment which I'm watching as I write this, CEO Stephen Ives says that Taptu has special algorithms catered to mobile. He says they find "the best mobile friendly results".
The first public version of Taptu, being launched today at http://taptu.mobi, focuses on music and fact-finding. However expect more categories to be added in the coming months. The first release is optimized for 20 popular handsets from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola - and the iPhone.
Taptu is also releasing a Facebook application today, called Music Wall. It's powered by the same search engine and allows Facebook users to find music on the web, add to their profile and share with their friends. The company says that future releases will include "a unique social network to mobile integration."
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Taptu Launches New Type of Mobile Search.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1694
It's been a very busy Monday here on Read/WriteWeb, so here's a recap of the day's posts: Top News - Attention - NewsGator and Bloglines Join APML Workgroup (Marshall) - Discovery Purchasing HowStuffWorks for $250 Million (Josh) - AdBrite: Full... Read More
Sponsor: Here is a summary of the week's Web Tech action on Read/WriteWeb. Note that you can subscribe to the Weekly Wrapups, either via the special RSS feed or by email. Note: I've just arrived back home after my latest... Read More
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all Read/WriteWeb posts
Am I seeing this right?
I just searched for a band on Taptu, and up came the results. I chose a song (from a MySpace page, apparently) and was shown the following options:
Free Sample 30sec
Source
Plays: 2390697
Buy (coming soon)
Most of them are self explanatory, but Source links to the original page on MySpace.
In respect to the 'Buy' option, do Taptu intend to sell content pulled from other websites? If so, how do they plan on sharing that money with bands/websites?
Posted by: Simon | October 17, 2007 4:48 AM@Simon: Vero from Taptu here.
That's correct, the source in this case is the MySpace page of the artist.
What you see as a "Buy" option - soon to be enabled - where we'll direct you to a premium site where you can purchase the tracks available for download, allowing the artist to get their revenue share.
Posted by: Vero Pepperrell | October 24, 2007 6:29 AM