In June 2007, mInfo acquired Guanxi SMS, which has been offering English and Chinese-language SMS search services in China since 2002. Alvin Wang Graylin, CEO of mInfo, says Guanxi is focused on helping expatriates find their way around town and has been a lifesaver for hundreds of thousands of foreign residents in China.

With an estimated 5 million expatriates living and working in China, as well as a further 30 million foreign visitors each year, the market for English-language mobile search here is significant. This will especially be true in 2008 when the Olympic Games take place in Beijing.

"The service is particularly useful to expatriates who cannot speak Chinese," Graylin says. Mobile users can search for directory information in English or Pinyin (phonetic Chinese). They can then choose to receive their answer in Chinese characters - something very useful for non-native speakers when traveling in and around China.

The Guanxi service is available on all the major mobile operators in China, including China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Netcom.

The Guanxi service is available for a premium service fee of approximately USD 0.12 per message, in addition to the data traffic charge of about USD 0.012 per message. The fees appear directly on the user's regular mobile bill.

"Loyalty to the service is very high," Graylin says. He estimates there are 100,000-200,000 users of Guanxi SMS each month who conduct an average of at least one mobile search per week.

Guanxi SMS is the latest addition to mInfo's portfolio of mobile search products, which includes mobile search services over SMS, WAP, IM and downloadable search applets focused on the local Chinese audience.

Graylin says that mInfo's mobile search is the only product of its kind to support natural language search - the ability to ask full questions or use complete sentences.

With the number of mobile phones in China being five times greater than the number of computers, Graylin says his company's mission is clear: "Make mobile search the essential tool that enriches people's daily lives, and help gather and disseminate information to the masses."

David Francisco