A growing number of entrepreneurs are betting that the rise of mobile phones has created an opportunity to do what once seemed unthinkable: to challenge Google in search.
越來越多創業家看好行動電話的崛起創造了一個機會，去做過去難以想像的事：在搜尋領域挑戰Google。
One of those who hopes to take on Google is Bobby Lo, the founder of Vurb, a start-up in San Francisco's bustling downtown that has a new kind of search engine meant for mobile phones. The idea is to take several common queries — restaurants, movies — and group them into snippets of information and apps for related actions.
想要挑戰Google的人士之一是巴比．羅，Vurb的創辦人，這是家位在舊金山熱鬧的市中心的新創公司，擁有為行動電話設計的新型搜尋引擎。構想是選一些常見的查詢條目─餐廳、電影─把它們集結成許多片段的資訊，以及為相關行動設計的應用軟體。
Venture capitalists have plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into dozens of search start-ups because they say they believe the Internet giant cannot dominate search on mobile devices the way it has on personal computers.
創投資本家已把數以億計美元投資在幾十家新創的搜尋公司身上，因為他們說，他們相信這家網路巨擘（Google）無法以它在個人電腦上獨占搜尋的方式，在行動裝置上如法炮製。
Venture capitalists financed 27 search companies in 2014 and 33 the year before — the two most active years on record, according to CB Insights, whose data on the venture capital industry goes back to 1999. The biggest jump has been in mobile search companies, according to a report CB Insights released in March, particularly companies that use "deep links" to connect mobile applications the way websites are linked on the web.
CB Insights從1999年開始收集創投產業的資料，資料顯示創投資本家在2014年提供資金給27家搜尋公司，前一年是33家，這是紀錄上最活躍的兩年。根據CB Insights今年三月公布的報告，投資的最大躍進是在行動搜尋公司方面，尤其是比照網路上網站連結方式，以「深度連結」（deep links）去連結行動應用軟體的公司。
Each of these search companies has a slightly different take. Quixey, which has raised $135 million in venture capital, according to CB Insights, features a traditional- looking search box that helps people find information inside apps, as well as functions, such as a button to order a cab.
這些搜尋公司每一家都有稍微不同的特色。根據CB Insights，已集資1.35億美元創投資本的Quixey，特色是一個有傳統外觀的搜尋盒，幫人們在應用軟體內找資訊，以及功能，例如叫計程車的按鈕。
A company named URX is trying to link apps so that people can perform related actions by hopping between them. Other ideas include putting search inside mobile messaging systems or creating new home-screen applications that use past behavior to predict what a user might want next — a concept Google has invested in already.
一家稱為URX的公司試圖連結多種應用軟體，人們得以在應用軟體之間跳來跳去，執行相關的行動。其他構想包括把搜尋置入行動簡訊系統，或創造新的主畫面應用軟體，利用過去的行為來預測用戶接下來也許要什麼，Google已投資於這種觀念。
"If you ask 100 people whether search is broken or not, 99 would say Google is perfect; it's everything I need," said John Lilly, a partner at Greylock Partners, which has backed a search startup called Jack Mobile. "But if you ask them, 'How are you going to figure out what you want to watch on TV tonight or where are you going to dinner?' they would say Google wouldn't know that, that's not search."
資助新創搜尋公司Jack Mobile的創投公司Greylock Partners的合夥人約翰．里利說：「你若問一百個人，搜尋是否不夠完整，百分之九十九會說Google很完美；它滿足我的所有需要。但你若問他們，『你能想出今晚你要看什麼電視節目，或是你要去哪兒吃晚餐嗎？』他們會說Google不會知道這個，這不是搜尋。」
An entrepreneur named Mike Farmer is developing Leap.it, a visual search engine whose results are full of pictures and cuedup videos.
創業家麥克．法默正在研發Leap.it，一種視覺搜尋引擎，搜尋結果充滿圖片和隨時可播放的影片。
"The very moment you believe that the game is over is the very moment that the environment exists to introduce something completely new," said Mr. Farmer, who works out of his house in Kansas City, Kansas.
在堪薩斯州堪薩斯市的家中工作的法默說：「你認為遊戲已經結束的那個時刻，也正是引進某樣全新東西的條件存在的時刻。」
Behind the new companies is a conviction that people use mobile phones so differently than they do desktop and laptop computers that the search business is ripe for an overhaul. "Anytime there is a platform change, everything is up for grabs," said Keith Rabois, a partner at Khosla Ventures, which has backed a company called Relcy.
支持這些新公司的是一個信念，認為人們使用手機的方式，與他們使用桌上型電腦和筆記型電腦大不相同，搜尋業進行大整修的時機已經成熟。資助Relcy公司的創投公司Khosla Ventures的一位合夥人凱斯．拉波華說：「每當有平台的改變，到處都是可以抓住的機會。」
The most obvious difference with mobile is that people always have their phones with them , giving search companies lots of contextual clues — like location — for what they might want.
行動裝置最明顯的不同點，在於人們總是把手機帶在身邊，提供搜尋公司很多他們也許會想要什麼的相關線索，像是他們所在的地點。
That is the main idea behind Vurb. When someone uses Vurb to search for a movie, it returns a single page with reviews, cast members and nearby theaters, along with links to buy tickets and the option to call a cab. When a user searches for an old movie, the service fetches streaming applications like Netflix.
這是支持Vurb的主要概念。當某人用Vurb搜尋一部電影，會進入一個頁面，有影評、演員陣容和附近的電影院，以及購票的連結和叫計程車的選項。當用戶搜尋一部老電影，這項服務會找來串流應用軟體，像是Netflix。
"If I'm searching for a movie, chances are I want to do a couple of things related to that," Mr. Lo said.
羅先生說：「如果我搜尋一部電影，很有可能我想做幾件與它有關的事。」
This year, smartphone users in the United States are projected to spend 81 percent of their time on the mobile Internet inside applications, and 19 percent on the web, according to eMarketer.
數位市場研究公司eMarketer說，今年，預估美國的智慧型手機用戶會把81%的時間花在行動網路內置的應用軟體，19%花在網路上。
Of course, Google has no plans to cede its hold on search. The company has amassed 30 billion "deep links" so that its search engine can return information from apps as well as the web, and the company's engineers are busy reimagining its search business for mobile phones.
當然，Google不打算放鬆對搜尋市場的掌控。它已積聚300億個「深度連結」，如此一來它的搜尋引擎能從應用軟體和網路回覆資訊，公司的工程師正忙著重新構思它的行動電話搜尋事業。
The company's biggest bets have been a voice-searching tool, along with Google Now, an application that tries to predict what users are looking for by showing a stack of cards with timely information, using cues like coming events in the user's emails or recent activities on mobile apps and the web.
這家公司（Google）的最大賭注一直放在一種語言搜尋工具，以及Google Now，一種試圖預測用戶正在找什麼的應用軟體，藉由顯示即時訊息的一疊卡片，以及利用一些提示，像是用戶電郵中即將到來的活動，或是手機應用軟體和網路上的最近活動。
Aparna Chennapragada is director of product management in Google's search business. Like her start-up competitors, she is still unsure exactly what people want.
阿帕爾娜．陳納普拉加達是Google搜尋事業產品管理部門主管。就和那些新創公司競爭者一樣，她也仍不確定人們究竟想要什麼。
"Google Now is such an early effort," she said. "We're still trying to figure it out."
她說：「Google Now在萌芽階段，我們仍在努力發想。」
