Nielsen just released a report with mobile search stats for Q1 08, which shows that users end up relying on the same brands they are used to on their PC. Google leads with 61% share, following by Yahoo! at 18% and MSN at 5%. Looks very similar to how these portals rank on the PC, even though usage patterns might differ a bit.

It is still somehow surprising. Yahoo! is indeed far more involved in the mobile field, having launched mobile specific services ahead of its competitors and having achieved quite a successful business development track record, both with operators and handset manufacturers. It basically means that when users decide to light up their mobile browser and go through the motions of doing a search, entering the web address of the highly trusted Google brand is not really that demanding as an added step.

As the mobile internet user experience improves - better devices, higher network speeds,... - it is only logical that users first replicate the internet usage they have on their PC and rely on trusted brand names to do so. I still think though that as they grow confident with the medium, we will start to see new and differentiated applications, and potentially brand names...