Tellme Launches Mobile Search for Everyone

Tellme Launches Mobile Search for Everyone

Popular Voice Service Enhanced With New Features and Richer Experience

Tellme Networks, Inc.(R), which operates the world’s largest voice platform, today announced new ways for anyone to search for information they need from any phone. Tellme gives people the easiest ways to get things done when they’re on the go, by speaking or typing their query and then hearing or seeing the answer. The free service launches today with local business search by business name or category.

Designed to provide fast, accurate results, Tellme users now have three ways to access the service:

– Tellme by Voice: Call 1-800-555-TELL and just say “business search” to find a business listing or search for a particular category, such as “flower shops,” from any phone, including a map for the selected listing. Callers can also choose from many other great services like movie tickets, ring tones, sports, news and more.

– Tellme by Text: Send a text message to TELLM (83556) with a business request such as “starbucks san francisco ca” or “pizza boston ma” and get a text message back with the listing and a link to a map.

– Tellme by Mobile: Speak your request and then see the results displayed on your phone screen for a voice + visual search, including maps and driving directions. Download the Tellme by Mobile beta by visiting http://www.tellme.com (or http://m.tellme.com from your mobile phone).

“Tellme’s vision for mobile search is simple — you should be able to just say what you want and get it,” said Mike McCue, Tellme’s CEO. “We want people to be able to search from any phone the way that works best for them. The phone was designed for speaking rather than typing, so we focus on the natural phone interface — your voice.”

Answering nearly 80 percent of the automated 411 calls in the United States and handling two billion calls a year for 40 million Americans every month, Tellme has a unique understanding of what people search for on the phone, and how they want to receive the information. Tellme has built a rich data capability to find the specific business a person is searching for, providing the most accurate information available over the phone.

“Web searches are often for browsing, but phone searches are about completing tasks and quickly finding what you want, connecting to it and completing a transaction, whether it’s ordering a pizza, buying flowers or purchasing a movie ticket,” McCue added.

Tellme’s focus is on making mobile search:

Accessible

Tellme provides ubiquitous access, so everyone can quickly start searching by phone, for free. Callers can get information by calling 1-800-555-TELL from any phone. For times when you would prefer not to speak your query, sending a text message to TELLM (83556) gets you the information you need. For users who want to download a voice + visual application there is Tellme by Mobile. Users can speak a request and then select and view the results right on their mobile phone’s screen. This is especially useful for driving directions and other hard to remember search results.

Accurate

People on the go don’t want a laundry list of sites or irrelevant information. Mobile phone time is precious, and getting the correct answer the first time is crucial. Tellme has taken its years of accumulated knowledge and data from answering 411 and applied that to mobile search, to improve accuracy so users just get what they want.

Actionable

Callers want more than answers — they want to act on information by getting directions to a location, sharing the information with a friend or making a purchase. Finding information is important, but enabling the transaction immediately from the search result is critical to the future value of mobile search. Tellme by Mobile provides four actionable steps: call the business, get a map, get driving directions and share with a friend. By June the company also expects to test new capabilities such as finding related businesses and community reviews.

About Tellme

Through innovation and design, Tellme improves how people and businesses use the phone. By combining Internet data and a voice interface, Tellme radically simplifies how people use the phone to get the information they need everyday. Today the company powers billions of calls to hundreds of phone services used by more than 40 million people every month. Some of the applications running on Tellme’s platform include business search on 411, information search on 1-800-555-TELL as well as customer service and ordering for companies like Merrill Lynch, E*TRADE and American Airlines. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., Tellme’s goal is to let anyone say what they want and get it, from any phone.

Tellme is a registered trademark and service mark of Tellme Networks, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the trademarks and service marks of their respective owners.