Petal Search

Petal Search is a search engine, developed by Huawei in the second half of 2020, it is available on Huawei and other Android mobile devices.

In addition to general search function, users can search for hotels, flights, events, products, restaurants, car and house rentals.^[1] It has visual search, voice search, and app search features.

History[edit]

In 2019, multinational technology company, Huawei, was affected by the sanctions enforced during ongoing international trade ban. Huawei’s new and upcoming Android smart phones were denied access to Google mobile services. Huawei, to circumvent these restrictions, decided upon expanding the scope of Petal Search, an independent search engine which had been in use for finding mobile applications^[2]

Origin of the name Petal[edit]

Inspired by Huawei’s logo, the search engine was named Petal as in flower petals.

Functionality[edit]

Huawei’s AI Technology[edit]

Petal Search uses AI technologies being currently developed by Huawei. Searching by photos taken through mobile phone’s camera, object identification, voice search and similar features are presented to users.^[3]

The AI functionality is designed to aid users looking for the information they need.^[4] AI search helps users to search through local content in their phone, as well as the the internet at large.

Third-party App Stores[edit]

Petal Search is a mobile search engine and also provides users who are searching for mobile phone applications with results from AppGallery (the Huawei official app store) and other third-party app stores. In cases where the user searches for an app, Petal Search includes results from trusted app stores.^[5] This feature is integrated with the AppGallery. Third-party software sources include: Aptoide, APKMonk, APKPure, APKCenter ve UpToDown.

Search Channels[edit]

Visual Search[edit]

Petal Search supports photo search, reverse image search, and text search. Visual search function relies on Huawei’s visual search technology, HiTouch.^[6] It can search for and detect multiple objects in an image at the same time. For instance, when the user takes a photo of a sofa with a blanket and a cushion on it, Petal Search can identify all three items at the same time, and deliver search results in a single list.

Voice Search[edit]

Petal Search supports voice search feature for English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Turkish and other languages.^[7]

Once the user gives a voice command, the AI analyzes the sound to determine what user is looking for. It gets the relevant data from Cloud, and displays the search results.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is one of the technologies used during the process, and this helps computers to interpret and understand human language.

News Search[edit]

Petal Search crawls and lists results from news outlets.

Video Search[edit]

Petal Search provides users specifically with video URLs if so chosen by the user. If a general query returns video results it will also be included in search results page.

App Search[edit]

Petal Search offers mobile application search functionality.

Shopping Search[edit]

Users can search for consumer products on Petal Search. Visual search function supports shopping channel. Users can search for products by taking pictures of objects they intend to purchase.

Travel Search[edit]

Flight reservation function is active on Petal Search. Petal Search provides location -and scenario- based localization services specialized for over 20 vertical industries. Users can book hotels or search for the flight information. Nearby restaurants, local tourist spots, local events can be searched via Petal Search.^[8]

Design[edit]

Petal Search’s logo design is based on the shape of a magnifying glass. The application is currently being developed for mobile devices exclusively, therefore its design is rooted in “mobile-first” approach. It offers “Dark Mode” option.

Mobile First Search Engine[edit]

Huawei’s Petal Search is a full-featured search engine.^[9]Being developed for mobile devices exclusively, its design and user experience features are optimized for mobile phone users’ needs and use cases.

SERP Mechanism[edit]

Petal Search employs a SERP mechanism which allows mobile users to find their desired information. The more relevant results are positioned higher in the hierarchy of SERP. For example, if the user query is an object and Petal Search interprets the intent of the user as “shopping” the shopping channels are prioritized. Depending on the AI interpretation of the user’s inclination with the search, Petal Search may also interpret it as an informational query and feature relevant results accordingly.

Reception[edit]

Petal Search is active in different markets of the world, currently focusing its operations in European countries. Namely, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Turkey. As of November 2020 Petal Search supports 50+ languages and available in 170+ countries and regions around the world.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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