Google continues to work hard in trying to bring a rich mobile search experience to its users, and new ad-units rolling out today are a perfect example of the evolution.

Back in July, we covered Google’s introduction of expandable ad-units that incorporate maps for click-to-call and other rich functionality.  While it was a great first step towards driving calls and foot traffic to physical locations, the targeting of the ads were still attributed to IP addresses.  While it works, it’s certainly not ideal.  With today’s introduction, the same functionality is now available within Google Maps for mobile, bringing with it the enhanced targeting capabilities found in the mapping application — such as GPS and triangulation.

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The latest headline on the Google Mobile Blog says it all: “To 100 million and beyond with Google Maps for mobile.”

Following its introduction to the mobile world some five years ago, Google Maps for mobile has reached a significant milestone.

The number of individuals now using their mobile phones instead of a piece of paper to determine their destination route (via Google Maps for mobile) has exceeded 100 million per month.

Not resting on their accomplishments, the folks at Google have been ramping up efforts in recent weeks and months to make Google maps for mobile an even more integral part of our daily lives and journeys.

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Yellow Pages recently released data in conjunction with comScore that dove into the mobile search sector with an emphasis on local mobile search.  While the concept is obviously growing, the data shows some interesting insight into how consumers are interacting with the medium.

The research shows that the number of mobile subscribers accessing business directories on a mobile phone increased 14 percent year-over-year to 17.3 million users in March 2010.  This increase outpaces the 10 percent growth in the number of mobile media users who browsed the mobile web, used applications or downloaded content during the same time period.

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Google Mobile is making history… literally.

This week, Google is launching a new search history feature that should prove itself to be a handy tool to those of us who need a little more “history” in terms of our mobile browsing.

Designed to help users quickly get back to sites they’ve been to from Android, iPhone, or desktop searches, Google Mobile is making it possible to simply sign in and then tap the new history link at the bottom of the Google homepage.

If you’ve enabled search history in your account, the “history that you see is a combination of all your searches done while you are signed-in, whether you are searching from a laptop at home, your desktop computer at work, or your phone while on-the-go,” Google says.

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Baidu is looking to unseat Google in more ways than one.  We reported a few days ago about the rumor that Baidu is working on its own open source mobile OS to rival Android, and new reports out today suggest the company is working to get its search engine placed on Android devices as well.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the company is in talks with mobile handset makers that use Android software about embedding a Baidu search box on their phones that are destined for the Chinese market.  The company is in similar talks with makers of other mobile operating systems and handsets that run their software, said Chief Executive Robin Li.  Baidu’s goal is to have “a search box very prominently on the phone’s screen.”  Though he declined to name any companies, he did mention that “we are talking to quite a few big names.”

Android phones made up a tiny 0.4% of the 7.25 million smartphones sold in China during the last three months of 2009, according to Beijing-based technology research firm Analysys International.  In a vast departure from the North American market, Symbian-powered phones made up 72.1% of the smartphones sold in China during the fourth quarter of last year.  The Symbian Foundation announced recently it would set up a joint lab along with Baidu to help integrate Baidu search functions onto Symbian.

It’s been reported recently that Baidu — the Chinese search company with an estimated 70% market share — is working on its own open source mobile OS to combat the competition from Android.  Most interesting about the development is that it’s being led by ex-Googlers.

During the censorship controversy between the Chinese government and Google, many Googlers left the company to join Baidu, and it looks like they’re already being put to good use.  Details on the mobile OS are scant, but reports indicate that it will definitely be open source and emulate Android in many ways.  Android has made significant progress within the Chinese market, even being widely distributed by many of China’s largest wireless carriers.

Baidu retains significant market share in terms of desktop search in the Chinese market, but when it comes to mobile search, Google and Baidu are neck and neck – with each hovering around 26% share.  With the revenue at stake in terms of mobile search, Baidu isn’t ready to sit idle while Google continues to make progress.  Creating a mobile OS of their own would help Baidu remain in its prominent position.  Stay tuned.

In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley said that his company was in talks with search companies — including all three major players: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft — about a potential data partnership that could bring Foursquare’s unique venue-specific content to the world of search.

Details beyond the basic concept, and the fact that Foursquare is indeed in talks with the major search players, is limited in terms of how and when Foursquare’s data could be included in search engines, but Crowley did say that “our data generates hugely interesting trends which would enrich search.”

“We can anonymise data and use it to show venues which are trending at that moment, Crowley explained.  ”Twitter helped the world and the search engines know what people are talking about.  Foursquare would allow people to search for the types of place people are going to – and where is trending – not what.”

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