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We love when big businesses find the time to roll out technologically advanced features that help their consumer base (as opposed to hinder). The Yellow Pages, a subsidiary of AT&T, is now offering text message search for mobile phones. Instead of calling 411, you can text "YP411" along with the business name or category, the city, state, and zip code to get a text message returning up to three matches for you search. You can then call the business directly from these search results. Those with PDA phones can now click the WAP link from their search results for additional information on the business, including a map or driving directions.
The Yellow Pages have released several new features in recent months, offering an optimized web page for Cingular customers for mobile browsing, and the ability to send search results from the Internet to a mobile via text messaging. The new YP411 feature really brings their previous efforts to a pinnacle. Mobile access is key for most information-based businesses these days, and considering the number of start-ups that offer similar forms of text message search functionality such as iQzone, it's important for large companies to offer the same.