Do you remember the days when Yahoo was a Yellow Pages-like directory of websites? Back in the early days of the Internet, a number of companies created vast, human-edited databases that aimed to catalog all the Web – and some even sold these as printed books. According to mobile search engine Taptu, the mobile Internet is at a similar point today, where a directory is simply the easiest way to discover content. While Taptu’s main focus is still on its crawler-based search engine for mobile sites, the company also just launched a Yahoo-like directory of touch-friendly websites.
The Mobile Web is Going Through Its “Yahoo Phase”
Earlier this year, AdMob’s CEO and founder Omar Hamoui argued that the mobile Web is going through its “Yahoo phase,” as it is still possible to find mobile apps using directory-like app stores instead of having to rely on more advanced search engines. While Hamoui was mostly talking about apps, the same could be said about the mobile Web in general. The number of touch-friendly mobile sites is still relatively small when compared the Web as a whole, and services like Taptu’s new directory make sense at this point.
Taptu’s Directory
To help its users find the best touch-friendly sites for mobile phones, Taptu decided to create a directory. Taptu notes that phones with touchscreens are quickly becoming mass-market devices, but a lot of these devices don’t feature app stores. For Taptu, the top five traffic-generating phones include the Samsung Caliber, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Samsung Finesse.
Thanks to Taptu’s focus on touch-friendly sites, the directory turns out to be a fun way to find interesting sites on the go, without the hassle of having to deal with sites that don’t work well on small screens. To access Taptu’s directory, just head over to the company’s mobile site and look for the Categories icon at the top of the page.
