Yahoo! Finds a Mobile Home

And ironically, Yahoo!'s relative lack of technical sophistication when compared to Google may give it an advantage when it comes to mobile. That's because unlike Google, the older Yahoo! chose to develop much of the content users navigate to through its homepage, or to work closely with other content providers.

On a PC, Google's famously powerful search algorithm quickly guides users to whatever information they seem to be searching for, thereby mitigating the need to create much of its own content or work very closely with other partners.

But in many ways, the emerging mobile frontier is a throwback to the earliest days of the Web. With small screens and keyboards, navigation is a hassle and a far cry from type of expansive Web surfing PC users have grown accustomed to. This in turn puts a premium on being able to serve up the relevant information quickly and predictably. This can give Yahoo!, with its enormous reservoirs of content, an edge.

This content, which includes everything from restaurant reviews to stock prices, is especially powerful when tied into the oneSearch platform, which allows users to tap into it through keywords. Typing in "pizza," for example, would identify not just local pizzerias but ratings and comments entered by other Yahoo! users. Looking for "apple," meanwhile, would pull up the Apple's(AAPL Quote) financial information and also locate stores in the area.