Soul searching

Vodafone wants to develop an advertising stream, and it's pretty much a given that advertising in the mobile context is going to be most compelling and profitable when tied to search - just ask Google, Yahoo!, eBay and Microsoft. So I guess some tables and desks in Newbury are being pounded in frustration at Nokia's news out this morning about the expanded availability of its Mobile Search application, to include Denmark, France, Italy, Norway and Spain. As I've highlighted previously, the directories players (Nokia's partners in this initiative) are already doing some interesting things with click-to-call, and we know that SIP figures prominently in Nokia's pipeline. Wonder where this is heading?