Nuance Communications has announced the UK beta trial launch of its T9 Nav software, a mobile search and discovery solution now available to owners of Symbian S60 phones.
Nuance says that T9 Nav significantly improves the mobile user experience by allowing users to bypass button-driven menu systems which often require complex combinations of key presses. Insstead, it offers a fast, direct and repeatable way to access features and content on the phone, intelligently adapting to user behaviour over time, reordering and predicting frequently searched terms using the industry-leading, patented algorithms from XT9/T9 software.
Designed to complement a devices existing look and feel, T9 Nav does not change how the user interface or menu areas on the phone look or perform, but works alongside these elements, placing all menu areas just a couple of clicks away from the idle screen.
Tiger Beer and Times Mobile the mobile site of The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers in the UK, have joined the trial as keyword advertising sponsors. By sponsoring appropriate keywords within T9 Nav, companies will be able to influence content choices, drive traffic to specified websites and ultimately increase brand affinity.
T9 Nav expands the Nuance smart keypad portfolio, joining Nuances T9 Text Input and XT9 Smart Input software, which the company notes have become the de facto standards for mobile text input, having shipped on 3.5 billion handsets worldwide. Where T9 and XT9 speed the creation of SMS and email messages, T9 Nav uses predictive search technology to replace complex menus and tedious device navigation on mobile phones, allowing users to access features and content, on and off the device, by simply entering keywords such as news, business, trains and cinema.
We believe that by giving consumers access to localised information about where they can buy our product such as bar names and restaurants, we are likely to see an increased rate of sale, says Gemma Adams, Brand Manager for Tiger Beer UK. Through sponsored keywords with T9 Nav such as bar and restaurant linking to our Night Out mobile website, were able to provide valuable information in real time to our customers who are out and about, directing them to outlets stocking our product.
Through innovative search functionality, keywords will appear to users while they are looking for other items on their handsets, allowing them to discover new content, features and information. This mechanism, says Nuance, allows advertisers to direct content towards consumers through a simpler approach than that currently offered by Bluetooth marketing, shortcodes or barcodes.
The keywords provide a rapid way for brands to amplify their mobile reach. Times Mobile for example will sponsor keywords like News, Sport, Taxi and Jobs. T9 Nav allows direct access to the numerous Times services and should increase awareness and usage.
Juniper Research forecasts that almost 30% of the global mobile subscriber base, around 1.3 billion users, are expected to be using local mobile search services by 2013, and that advertising-supported local search will be the key to driving this sector.
T9 Nav will drive mobile advertising forward as the whole mobile industry continues to grow, says William Clement, EMEA Mobile Marketing Head for Nuance Communications. Its effortless keyword search not only helps the mobile user, but also represents an exciting opportunity for brands and the advertising industry as a whole.
The Personal Edition of T9 Nav will be commercially available in the last quarter of 2008, in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. In the meantime, the T9 Nav Beta is freely available to people with S60 phones who sign up and participate in the T9 Nav Beta program. You can sign up for the trial here.