What your mobile web searches say about you

You can tell a lot about people by tracking their mobile Web searches—like the fact that BlackBerry users like to hunt for low gas prices and iPhone users are Starbucks addicts.

Boston start-up uLocate Communications says BlackBerry users are more likely to compare gas prices online than other smart-phone owners. IPhone users, meanwhile, are eight times more likely to search for Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX) locations than users of other smart phones, according to uLocate.

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The data stems from uLocate's location-based services platform, called "WHERE," which runs on Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone, Research In Motion's (nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerrys, Google's (nasdaq: GOOG) Android phones and Palm's Pre. On these handsets, WHERE functions as a portal to local data ranging from weather forecasts to restaurant reviews, movie listings, gas prices and Yellow Pages-type searches.

ULocate tracks the searches, which it says are made by millions of users across the U.S., for informational purposes. The findings shed light on the kinds of people who use, say, an iPhone versus a Pre.

Some of the distinctions may be attributable to age or socio-economic differences. ULocate says that iPhone and Android users tend to search for Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT), while BlackBerry and Pre users favor Best Buy (nyse: BBY), a more expensive store. Dan Gilmartin, uLocate's vice president of marketing, says the data could point to BlackBerry and Pre users being slightly older than iPhone and Android users.

Search results from BlackBerry users pointed toward a lifestyle of heavy travel during the week and movie-going on the weekends. The pattern fits the popular image of BlackBerry owners as busy road warriors who want to relax on their days off, says Gilmartin.

Other findings are more mysterious, like the fact that Android and Pre users search for Pizza Hut when looking for a quick bite to eat, while iPhone and BlackBerry users prefer McDonald's (nyse: MCD). Gilmartin also said he was surprised to find two drugstore chains, Walgreen (nyse: WAG) and CVS (nyse: CVS), rank in the top 10 keywords for local searches on WHERE.

The iPhone-McDonald's bond could be related to the prevalence of wi-fi in McDonald's restaurants. The same goes for Starbucks. AT&T (nyse: T) gives iPhone users free Wi-Fi access at both chains.

ULocate, which uses advertising to subsidize its smart-phone applications, doesn't care what consumers search for as long as they keep tapping the mobile Web. The company says business has improved enough that it recently reached a cash-flow break-even position. The company is six years old.

Next, uLocate plans to conduct historical comparisons to see if user preferences shift along with the economy—nudging people to visit Wal-Mart instead of the more upscale Target (nyse: TGT), for instance. "It's difficult to draw conclusions for every data point," notes Gilmartin. "But keystrokes don't lie."

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