TMP Directional Marketing is releasing a study today, entitled "Local Search Usage Study, that covers the changing role of mobile search.

"Consumers—who once thought of mobile search as a time-consuming hassle—now see it as innovative, revolutionized by Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones," MediaPost reports.

The kind of cell phone turns out to be a key factor. "Of the three types of cell phones researched, it's apparent that standard cell phone users are very hesitant to conduct mobile searches, whereas PDAs with a data connection, or WiFi-enabled phone users, are much more likely to use mobile search—for example, 55 precent of PDA users and 61 percent of WiFi-enabled cell phone users."