Google is losing its dominance in the mobile search sector as smartphone and tablet users gather information using apps rather than browser search, a new market analysis report shows.
Google, the biggest search engine, has dominance over the PC-based web search, but a new report indicates a decline in usage of Google for mobile searches. The latest findings from analytics firm eMarketer shows that the rise in smartphone and tablet usage has changed users' behavior toward mobile search who are increasingly using apps.
"Even though browser-based search is a common behavior among mobile owners, search engines are not necessarily the first place smartphone and tablet users turn," Cathy Boyle, an analyst at EMarketer, said in a statement. "The explosion of mobile app development and usage means mobile users have more - and more specialized - alternatives for finding information."
According to the report, mobile advertising in the United States will grow significantly in the coming years. Analysts predict more than half of this year's total advertising cost, which is an estimated $17.73 billion, will account for mobile search spending. The figures are likely to go as high as $28.41 billion by 2018. With Google's decline in shares, the Mountain View giant will be losing a lucrative market for its business.
To back the claims of Google's slipping position in the mobile search market, eMarketer gave some statistics. In 2012, Google accounted for 82.8 percent of the $2.24 billion mobile search market. Although, Google's dominance in this category still prevails, other key players have joined the bandwagon to increase the competition. As a result, in 2013, Google's shares fell to 68.5 percent and other companies' shares increased from 5.4 percent to 22.9 percent.
Among the "other" category, Yelp has managed to gain extreme popularity to help users find ratings and information on local restaurants. The research firm expects Yelp's mobile share revenues to grow 136 percent this year to reach $119.4 million.
Google also suffered another major hit from its long-time rival, Apple. The Cupertino tech giant announced iOS8 at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference 2014 earlier this week, and also broke the news of ditching Google's search as a default engine for iPhones in favor of Microsoft's Bing.
