Yahoo aims to capitalise on the growing number of mobile apps on the market by launching a discovery engine that helps UK users navigate the 500,000-plus apps in both the App Store and Android Market.
The function, named App Search, is available via a tab on the Yahoo homepage and helps users discover apps based on the search terms they enter.
It then returns matching titles with a comprehensive description, price, star rating from users, screenshots and the relevant links (see gallery above).
Users can also filter the results by category, such as free or paid-for, and can then download the apps directly from the relevant outlet, by clicking “send to phone”, which sends a text message with a hyperlink the user’s phone, or by scanning a QR code, which directs the user to the relevant destination.
Advertisers can also promote their apps by bidding on relevant keywords with the ads being returned next to the organic results.
In late 2011, Google launched a similar service that let advertisers insert direct links to where their mobile apps could be downloaded from in their paid-for ad formats.
