You know how to use a regular search engine and they are very similar to those found on the mobile web, but what about searching for apps on your mobile phone? Hundreds of thousands of apps are popping up each week and being able to find some that cater to your needs can be very, very important. Yahoo is the latest to take on the task of app discovery for the iPhone, Android and even for the desktop.
The Yahoo iPhone app search is called “Yahoo! AppSpot” and basically searches your apps and displays ones that you do not already have on your phone. It will also show apps that are related to those you already have on your phone. You are going to get recommendations sent to you and the main categories are music, games, news, social-networking, utilities and travel. You can also search via keyword and the results are displayed in a nice and easy to use interface that shows the app title, description and popularity.
The app search still needs some work, but for not the search results work and will get you pointed in the right direction at least. The categories that are used the most, like music, return results that are typical, like Pandora or Last.fm, but when you search the photos category the results show apps that are not as well known, but that doesn’t mean they are good. With that said, I am not sure what the algorithm is that they use, but I am sure it’s a “work in progress” anyways. We’ll see how Yahoo holds up against other companies doing the same with mobile app search.
