|
Rich Gorman: Marketing Trailblazer Heralds the Advent of Blekko's Tablet Search App
NEW YORK, NY, Jan 11, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
According to online marketer and search engine enthusiast Rich
Gorman, the act of conducting an online search is something many
consumers have come to take for granted. Heading to Google.com, or
using a Bing search toolbar affixed to a desktop browser, is the
easiest thing in the world, yet it is crucial to remember that not
all search experiences are created equal. According to Gorman, there
are few search applications that are tailor-made for tablet users --
but search start-up Blekko has every intention of changing that. The
company has announced the launch of its new tablet-based search app,
Izik, and in so doing it has won a comment from Gorman.
In a new statement to the press, Gorman heralds the new Blekko app.
"We have all grown so accustomed to thinking that online search
begins and ends with Google that, when Blekko first appeared, many of
us found it easy to write the company off," he says. "What the
company has proven, though, is that while it may not be able to match
Google in terms of search ubiquity, it can keep up in terms of
innovation. In fact, Blekko has masterminded a search app that goes
where Google has yet to really venture in any meaningful way -- into
search that is tailored for tablet users."
Indeed, Blekko has made it clear that Izik -- which is pronounced
like "Isaac" -- was designed for the sole purpose of providing a
better and richer search experience for those using tablets. Blekko's
CEO, Rich Skrenta, has stated his intention of helping tablet users
recapture the same experience that desktop users had the first time
they used Google, more than a decade ago. "In other words, Blekko is
seeking to establish its own position at the forefront of
tablet-based search," offers Gorman.
Gorman goes on to praise Blekko for understanding the implicit
differences in consumer behavior, between desktop users and tablet
users. "Blekko understands that those of us who are using desktop
search engines are often in a very different category than those
using their tablets," he remarks. According to Blekko, consumers
using a desktop search engine usually have a very specific task in
mind. Those using tablets, meanwhile, are often more interested in
having fun and exploring all that the Web has to offer; tablet users
may be sitting on a couch, wishing to indulge in whims and flights of
fancy, but not necessarily seeking to accomplish any one thing.
Additionally, the Blekko development team has noted the fact that
typing in a tablet is less intuitive than typing on a desktop
computer -- thus, tablet search inquiries tend to be just one or two
short words, as opposed to longer phrases.
What Blekko has done with Izik, then, is to take its search
capabilities and present them in a way that is more tablet-friendly.
This includes greater touch sensitivity and an interface driven by
images. Users who open the app can choose from a list of
currently-popular search inquiries, or they can type their own; then,
they are presented with dynamic category lists, reflecting their
search terms. For example, someone who searches for "iPhone" might
get an "images" category, a "shopping" category, and a category for
Apple news; a search for "Justin Bieber" might keep the "images"
heading but replace the tech-oriented listings with "celebrity
gossip."
According to Gorman, the new Blekko search app could point to a bold
new frontier in search. "Search engines loves to customize their
services to meet the needs of different users groups, or to
accommodate different geographic locations, but the idea of tailoring
a search experience just to tablet users is a real innovation," he
remarks. "It is just the kind of innovation that could keep Blekko
way out in front of its competitors."
Rich Gorman is a search engine connoisseur, and he is also active on
Google+.
ABOUT:
Rich Gorman is a marketing innovator, a serial entrepreneur, and a
leading name in the direct response marketing field. He is also
passionate about search engine technology, and blogs regularly about
search-related topics at his Direct Response blog.
SOURCE: Rich Gorman - Direct Response
[ InfoTech Spotlight's Homepage ]
|
