By Falguni Bhuta

A service launched by a search startup is bringing some different abilities to the world of mobile search.

Palo Alto, California-based 4INFO unveiled its new mobile search engine Sunday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas

4INFO expects to deliver search results instantly to users with mobile devices. The company aims to bring mobile search capabilities to a slew of small businesses that otherwise could not afford the technology.

Several services such as Google and Yahoo already offer mobile search and let users search for information as they would on the desktop.

However, 4INFO CEO Zaw Thet said traditional search engines are not optimized for mobile search and make the user experience frustrating because of multiple keystrokes and slow download times.

His company’s mobile search engine offers a menu of the most frequent searches via a search bar, offering a single source for answers to questions instead of making users click through numerous web pages, Mr. Thet said. Users can get answers through the least number of clicks, he said.

However, the service is currently restricted to only about 30 popular search topics, such as traffic information, driving directions, weather, and stock quotes.

“4INFO is not meant to be something that replaces Google for your biology project in high school,” said Mr. Thet.

Until now, the startup has been using text messages to deliver information. For example, users would send a text message with a short code and the service would respond with the answer.

That has led the venture-financed company to become one of the top mobile search providers, although it has a long way to go to catch up with Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s MSN.

The Gannett newspaper group has invested with 4INFO, and the startup provides alerts and information to the newspaper chain’s readers via SMS (short message service). A user sends a text message to the service with a short code, such as “44318 weather SF.”

Reaching Customers

Recently, 4INFO opened up its technology to small and medium businesses that can use its infrastructure to keep in touch with their customers.

Mr. Thet gave an example of a blog that reports on celebrity deaths. Users can sign up for alerts on the web site, which then uses 4INFO’s infrastructure to deliver the alerts via SMS to users. The process to set this up for a site takes about five minutes and does not require developer skills, Mr. Thet said.

“We’re basically removing all the barriers to entry in this market,” he said.

Several other businesses such as restaurants and DJs are using 4INFO’s system to keep in touch with their customers and fans, said Mr. Thet. The service is available for free. 4INFO makes revenue via advertising. Every text message that the startup sends out carries an advertisement, usually related to the type of content in the message.

In another instance, a surfer from Santa Cruz, California made his surf blog available via mobile so his friends could text a short code with a keyword and learn about beach conditions.

Santa Cruz, California

In the case of messages sent to subscribers of business customers, 4INFO shares half of the advertising revenue with them, giving the businesses a chance to make some money off the promotion. About 400 such services are being created on the system every month, said Mr. Thet.

The startup was founded in July 2004 with funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Gannett, and US Venture Partners. It has yet to turn a profit and is aiming for a breakeven point by 2008, Mr. Thet said. One of 4INFO’s main customers is TV Guide, which is using the service to keep in touch with customers about TV listings.

TV Guide

Julie Ask, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said 4INFO is targeting the right market as the short code phenomenon is taking off.

“Reuters, Yahoo, and every major brand is launching short codes and information retrieval services,” Ms. Ask said. “I think 4INFO is doing something new and [we] will see others emulate [its service].”