Besides its lead in online search, Google did a great job in mobile search during the first quarter of 2008, according to data from Nielsen Mobile. It captured 61 percent of the mobile search market, while Yahoo! lagged much behind in second at 18 percent. MSN, in the third spot, holds five percent.

Earlier this year, Google said the number of mobile searches coming from iPhones was 50 times higher than any other handset. This may be because Google is set as the default search engine on all iPhones, while Yahoo! is a secondary option. The Microsoft search product is not even available as a default on the iPhone, Ars Technica reported.

However, Nielsen's data still looks surprising. Why doesn't Microsoft's search options (MSN and Live Search) have a larger share, with the extensive reach of Windows Mobile phones in the market?

Although Google and Yahoo! topped the charts, users still think there are vulnerabilities. Only 44 percent of mobile Google users rated their experiences toward the high end of the scale, indicating a lot of room for improvement, while about 40 percent of Yahoo! users did so.

According to Nielsen Mobile, most of Google and Yahoo! users were searching for general information on mobile, though 29 percent of Google users and 24 percent of Yahoo! users were looking for local listings, Ars Technica reported.