Israeli mobile operator Cellcom has introduced a new mobile music service that takes a detour around search engine and personalization schemes to delivers users content in two-clicks. Cellcom has implemented Hear It N’ Get It, a solution from Hingi, a mobile commerce solutions and services provider. The branded service (called Ten Ta’Shir, which is Hear It N’ Get It in Hebrew) helps users to identify broadcast music and download related content such as ringtones and Mp3 tracks by sending an SMS with the name, or a short-code of the radio or TV station where the music was played. Users receive the name of the last three songs that were played, with links to buy the related content in one more click. The service is one of a growing number that make a more direct connection between content and commerce. (Targetize, whose customers include Universal Music, processes mobile search results from other search engines to deliver actual content – not a list of links – to users within three clicks. It presents the results in the form of an overview screen that summarizes the available and relevant content in phrases and images.)

The launch is one of several in this space, and demonstrates discovery is the other side of the mobile search paradigm and an increasingly important component of any content-selling strategy. After all, there is no guarantee mobile search companies – with their own partners and priorities - will point users in the direction of the mobile Web destinations and offers content companies and operators would like to see first on the list. Even when search engines do so, they still struggle to deliver content within an acceptable click-distance. Against this backdrop, content discovery schemes – not search - may clinch the deal and encourage impulse buying.