It seems that one of Santa's favorite gifts this year was Apple's Swiss army knife device, the wondrous iPhone.

I woke up on Boxing Day (which coincidentally is also my son's birthday) to discover that the traffic to the iPhone version of AOL Mobile Search doubled on Christmas Day. It seems all those Christmas gifts got unwrapped and everybody started searching.

We did not see a similar increase in traffic for our Blackberry, Windows Mobile or other versions of Mobile Search that day. So if you're following the mobile wars between Apple, RIM, Nokia and Microsoft it looks like Cupertino has the lead.

Based on our logs here's what's most popular among the new iPhone crowd:

Most Popular Application: AIM
Most Popular Web Site: MySpace
Most Popular Celebrity: Jennifer Aniston
Most Popular Gift: Stanley Tools
Most Popular Xmas site: Santa Tracker

If you're a new iPhone user, we'd love to hear what you think of AOL Mobile Search. Leave a comment and let us know!

If you want to try it out, click here.

Everyone knows that typing on a mobile phone (even the iPhone!) is a royal pain. So today we're improving the experience by incorporating Smart Box technology into mobile search for the iPhone and iPod Touch to help in faster query completion.

As you type a query into the Smart Box, items containing the words you've already typed will begin to appear. Select the one you want to complete your query.

Voila!: Less typing and better answers faster. But wait...there's more...

We've programmed the Smart Box to include thousands of the most popular queries submitted by all AOL searchers. As you type, the Smart Box will populate the list with related suggestions. You may have thought about searching for 'John McCain.' What you'll see is several more detailed options for a John McCain search such as 'John McCain family pictures.' Or if you're searching for 'Barack Obama' you may also want to take a look at the results for 'Barack Obama Speech.'




























By combining the functionality of query auto-complete and related searches all in one place, we've maximized the screen space of the iPhone and hopefully made AOL Mobile Search easier for you to use.

For more on Smart Box, check out our video. Then, try it out and tell us what you think by going to search.aol.com on your iPhone!

AOL Mobile Search has been awarded a Silver Medal by mocoNews! The mobile search blog held a competition of sorts to see which search engine has the best mobile results for the search term "Olympics." Yahoo! and Google tied for gold and MSN Live came in third place for bronze.

Swimmers Dara Torres and Katie Hoff are jubilant about their silver medals and so are we. OK, so ours wasn't won in Beijing's Water Cube, but it feels great just the same.

The key differentiators according to mocoNews was that Google and Yahoo shows medal results and rankings for the term "Olympics" while AOL doesn't. On the other hand AOL Mobile Search shows Olympic themed ringtones from our partner Thumplay. MocoNews judged our results for basic WAP phones but we're also really proud of our iPhone product (pictured).

We're always looking for ways to improve our search results and are open to suggestions. Let us know what you would like to see.

Just like sports car drivers, iPhone™ users want the best ride. Today we're pleased to unveil in beta AOL® Mobile Search for the iPhone device.

AOL Mobile Search optimized for the iPhone is an extraordinary search engine that's finely crafted to allow users of this brilliant device to get Better Answers, Faster™. AOL Mobile Search delivers comprehensive and more relevant search results by bringing together content from across the Web and mobile Web, as well as from Moviefone®, MapQuest®, AOL® CityGuide and other AOL services.

AOL Mobile Search for the iPhone device was designed specifically for the Apple® iPhone's mobile Safari™ browser. By combining AJAX technology and the iPhone's easy to use multi-touch surface, our designer Lisa Hoover and developers Alan Tai and Andrew Clarke have created a user experience that allows the richness of the Web to be delivered on a phone.

The video I've posted below highlights the many cool features of our new product. Or if you just can't wait, check it out for yourself by going to search.aol.com on your iPhone . To experience the best of our new search engine, try searching for a new movie, a local restaurant or your favorite celebrity.


Please try it out and give us your comments. We'd love to hear what you think.

It may be the dog days of August, but we're still cranking away here at AOL Search. Today we're unveiling the new beta version of AOL Mobile Search. Now when you're away from your computer, the power of AOL Search can go with you.

You can access AOL Mobile Search on your mobile phone by going to wap.aol.com then select "1" for Search.

Searching on a mobile device means searching when you're on-the-go, which means you're probably not interested in browsing or exploring you're looking for answers -- and you want the right ones.

Just like our desktop version, you can now enter your searches in one box, but you get back much more than a list of website links.

In future posts, I'll go into more detail about getting the best results out of each search, but for now, let's go over some main features of the new search experience.

Local Listings
In the new AOL Mobile Search, you can search for local listings. Each result deep links into a page created by AOL CityGuide which contains information about the venue like a picture or a description of the establishment. Maps and directions of how to get there are also available from MapQuest. Be sure to set your location in search so you can get the best results and accurate directions.

Weather
The weather information is easy to find in the new AOL Moble Search. Just type "weather" if you've already set a location or "weather, city, state."

Movies
Looking for a flick to see with your chick? You can get movies in your area easily too. A search brings results directly from AOL Moviefone.

Stock Quotes
These days you can't check the financial markets often enough. Most days stocks are down :-( Prices, Charts, and the news for each company are at your finger tips.

Images
He's got the home run record, but Barry Bonds doesn't stop making news. With AOL Mobile Search you can get pics of the world's home run king.

We've packed a lot into the beta release of AOL Mobile Search, I hope you'll take the time try it out on wap.aol.com, then select "1" for Search.

We're especially interested in your comments and questions, so don't hold back.

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Posted by our guest blogger, Farhan Memon, Sr. Product Manager for AOL Mobile Search. Meet Farhan at the AOL Search Lunch at SES San Jose on Tuesday, August 21, where he'll talk more about AOL Mobile Search.

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