In-car Google Local Search Google continues to push Maps to new platforms and venues. I see this type of market penetration as a way to achieve monopoly status ala the iPod.
Segmenting Local Mobile Search

Good article from Gerg Sterling at SearchEngineLand categorizing and documenting the fragmented nature of local mobile search. As he points out, what he calls “mobile Internet is really four separate silos that will eventually blend to varying degrees.”

At this point the only players in all the silos are Google, MSN & Yahoo. With the Telcos, Ask, Local.com, Jingle and others participating in one or two categories. He points out that “we can expect to see increasing integration of the types of functionality that are currently largely separated — the blending of voice interfaces, text and WAP and, potentially, applications that come preloaded on phones (e.g., Google Maps on the iPhone).”

Handheld shootout! Google Maps vs. Windows Live Search reviews two Local Mobile Apps mentioned in Greg’s article and concludes that “I’m not a big fan of Microsoft’s search offerings, but this one beats Google’s hands down. It almost makes me forget the raw coolness of Google Maps on the iPhone. Almost.”