NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel along with Affle today announced the launch of an upgrade to SMS which allows users to trigger Search using mobile SMS services.

According to a release by Bharti, this integration of search on SMS redefining SMS to Short Message and Search 2.0, has been conceptualised and developed by Affle through its R&D efforts in Singapore & India.

Commenting on the launch of Search integrated SMS2.0 experience, Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer; Bharti Airtel said, “The uptake of the SMS2.0 has been very encouraging and we are embarking to take this platform to a different level – introducing search through SMS. This new upgrade service will thus allow Airtel users to Search – Airtel Live, Internet, Local search, Jobs and Property listings, from their SMS screen.”

Anuj Khanna, CEO Affle, said, “India is a very exciting mobile market and in Airtel we have found a great partner to take our services to users. We had tremendous success with the SMS2.0 service, and with the launch of Search, we feel that the value proposition to the user is even more exciting. Our research shows that the Search behavior of users on the mobile phone is very different from the internet and hence integration of exciting local and other user relevant Search options on the easy to use SMS interface makes this experience very enticing”

The Short Message and Search 2.0 (SMS2.0) application is available to users for free and to download SMS2.0, the Airtel customers simply need to send “SMS2” to 543210. There is no charge for downloading and for subsequent content delivery on this platform; the SMS charges remain unchanged and according to the existing mobile plan.