April 09, 2009, 5:28 PM — Microsoft has replaced its Live Search Mobile Web page with a site that markets the offering using a spoof on low-budget, late-night television ads.
The new Loco4Local site hosts a couple of short videos featuring "Larry and Gary" in front of their store, called the mobile app shack. In one, they're seated on donkeys, each holding a cell phone nearly as big as they are, and they enthusiastically shout: "New Live Search for Mobile has so much local movie information it's re-donk-ulous."
In another, a man appears dressed as Abraham Lincoln in a very fake beard and top hat.
It doesn't appear that the site is promoting any new Live Search for Mobile features, at least since an update was released in January. Users of Windows Mobile and other phones can download the small client the lets them search for local information like movie times, news, weather and stocks. Users can also search using voice commands, get turn-by-turn directions and view maps.
The update to the service that happened in January tied in Virtual Earth, the mapping tool that displays images taken from satellite.
The Loco4Local site features images of a Windows Mobile phone and a T-Mobile Sidekick, the device that runs software from Danger, a company Microsoft has acquired. It also shows a BlackBerry. Several blogs began reporting over the last couple of days that the Live Service for Mobile client was recently extended to support a wider range of BlackBerry devices.
Phone users can enter their phone numbers on the Loco4Local Web site and receive a text message with instructions for downloading the client.
A Microsoft spokesman said that the site is designed as a fun marketing site and offers people another way to download the client to their phones. He did not immediately reply to questions about when the site launched and details about the BlackBerry update.
Google cache shows the Loco4Local site appearing on April 4. The previous mobile.search.live.com Web site now redirects to Loco4Local.com.
