Michael Boland

Michael Boland is analyst and program director of BIA/Kelsey’s Mobile Local Media program. Mike is a frequent speaker and organizer at top industry conferences, including Search Engine Strategies and BIA/Kelsey events. Prior to joining BIA/Kelsey, Boland spent several years as a technology journalist.

Recent articles by Michael Boland

Local and Social: It's all Coming Together
Google and Bing strike deals giving them access to real-time social feeds. What does it mean for the future of local search? Oct 30, 2009

Mobile Search Discovers a New Path: mobilepeople
The latest mobile search products have elements of push and pull that represent this interplay of local search and discovery. Those that win the land rush currently underway will balance these in the most publisher-, advertiser-, and user-friendly ways. Oct 2, 2009

Location-Based Services: Discovering Old and New Paths
Search has improved content delivery and ad performance over many existing media, due to clearer expression of user intent. But does the mobile device possess capabilities that can make it even more effective? Sep 4, 2009

Surrounded by Search Engines: A New Kind of Mobile Search
Voice search could have a bright future in mobile, and even evolve beyond the phone itself. An area known as speech controlled Internet devices (SCIDs) transforms the myriad electronics that surround into their own little search engines. Aug 7, 2009

Google Evolutions: Clouds, Waves, and Shiny Metal
Google's Chrome OS is getting quite a bit of hype this week. But this time it may be at least partially deserved, though it's more evolutionary than revolutionary. Jul 10, 2009

The Future of the Mobile Web: To App or Not to App?
Improved capabilities of the Safari mobile browser in the latest iPhone have lots of implications for mobile local search. They essentially make it easier to build mobile products without having to spend time and money on native app development. Jun 12, 2009

Twitter and Local Search: A Status Update
Twitter search brings structure to all the noise with an index of real time conversations. but is the excitement around Twitter causing us to force unnatural mashups, as with local search? May 15, 2009

Skype Dials in to Local Search
The online phone service will spin off as an independent company next year, giving it a greater ability to redefine itself. Local search could be one way to do this, tying Skype in with a local search engine with click-to-call functionality. Apr 17, 2009

Getting Closer to Mobile Local Search's Day
The year of mobile has perpetually been on the horizon, proving time and time again to only be a desert mirage. Now we're closer than ever, but the market is understandably cautious of bold claims about mobile search and location-based services. Mar 20, 2009

Replicating the Web: Will Google Dominate Mobile Search?
With mobile Web publishers, Google is following the same path it did online many years ago: Partnering with publishers to share ad inventory and planting its search box all over the place. Feb 20, 2009

More articles by Michael Boland