It's that easy with the specialised local local search service ASK, brought to you by 58888, the mobile arm of Indiatimes. Now you just need to SMS query and the locality, and you will get 'detailed' search results. The service provides listings of Restaurants, ATMs, Cafés, Lounges, Pubs, Shopping destinations, florists, chemists and also Movie schedules and even day-to-day needs. So the next you need a plumber or electrician, help is on hand in the form of local names and numbers with just an SMS. The same goes for facilities as diverse as florists to opticians to libraries to laundries. The service is especially perfect for restaurant listings as it comes with details of an average meal price for two (gathered by an on-ground force). The movie listing features show timings along with ticket availability* (*at select multiplexes) and the tele-booking number through which the user can book his/her tickets. The service also offers mobile booking
of tickets via voice call.

The service is currently available on SMS and WAP. TO receive the details of anything and everything in the locality the user can simply send an ASK prefix followed by his query and the locality to 58888 or visit wap.indiatimes.com. For Eg: If the user is looking for a Levi's showroom in Saket, Delhi, simply send (ASK Levis Saket) to 58888 and get the information in his inbox. A great feature is the logical search results which displays all categories (in case results found in multiple categories) for the same keyword. For eg: ASK Oriental, Saket. Result found in categories like ATM, Restaurant, Gymnasium etc. in Saket will be forwarded. The user can then select one category and proceed to reach a logical result.

For now, the service covers the 5 metros as also the commercial hubs of India--Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Goa. Fifteen other Tier-II cities will join up shortly.

The service is being powered by Onyomo and will be expanded to cover the entire nation in the next few months. Speaking at the launch,Dinesh Wadhawan,CEO/MD, Times Internet Limited, said, "A new set of consumers have taken the market by storm. They are always on the move and want information quickly and from a credible source. The ASK service specifically addresses the needs of this particular audience, delivering accurate information on the services in and around your area."