Ask.com Launches Q&A Service for Mobile Devices

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Ask.com, the number one online brand for questions and answers and an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), today publicly released its mobile application for iPhone. Now available within iTunes, the Ask for iPhone app allows Ask.com users to ask and answer questions from their mobile devices. Previously only limited to a subset of Ask.com website users, the full Ask.com Q&A experience is now available to anyone who downloads the app.

"Millions of people come to Ask.com with their questions everyday – now they don't have to wait until they get back to their computers to get the answers they need," said Doug Leeds, President, Ask.com US. "The number of questions posed on Ask.com has steadily increased since our Q&A beta launch and the addition of our mobile app helps us do a better job of getting those answers, either from the web or from people nearby."

Ask for iPhone instantly returns the best answer from the web in response to user questions; if the web's best answer isn't sufficient, the service then leverages proprietary technology to route the question directly to a relevant Ask.com user.

Ask for iPhone includes the following features:

• Combination of search and real people. Like the Ask.com Q&A beta site, Ask for iPhone is the only place that answers questions using either search technology or insight from people.
• Say your question. Voice to text functionality, powered by Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) allows users to simply ask questions, no typing required.
• Intelligent question routing. Mobile users' questions don't just get routed to other devices, they get delivered to any Ask.com user who is qualified to answer based on expertise, knowledge area and, coming soon, location. Likewise, Ask.com users who ask questions through the site will be able to tap the knowledge of other users via their mobile devices.
• Answers find you. Push notifications include the entire answer, no clicking through to the Ask.com site required.

By the end of the year, Ask for iPhone will also allow users to browse questions within their immediate surroundings, route location-specific questions to nearby Ask.com members and review recent questions asked about nearby points of interest.

"Despite the proliferation of Q&A sites and services out there, no one has really nailed it," said Greg Sterling, founder Sterling Market Intelligence and senior analyst, Opus Research. "Ask has an opportunity to do that with its new mobile app, which brings together location, a range of third party content and social features in a mobile-centric Q&A experience."

Download the Ask for iPhone here: http://www.facebook.com/Askdotcom

About Ask.com

Ask.com is the number one online brand for questions and answers and an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI).  The Ask Network of sites is the 4th largest property in the US for unique searches according to September 2010 comScore data with 89 million domestic unique monthly users. Ask.com also syndicates search and advertising solutions to a network of affiliate partners.

SOURCE Ask.com