Questions on the go? Answers go mobile

Answers (dot-com) are coming to your cell phone.

The company behind Answers.com, the fast-rising Internet reference guide, has started testing a version for mobile devices. GuruNet, based in Wesley Hills, N.Y., on Tuesday introduced Mobile.answers.com, a fact-based search engine for use on browser-enabled phones, Treos, BlackBerrys and Windows-CE devices.

"The rapidly increasing use of mobile phones has made the accessibility of reliable reference on the go a natural extension for us," said Bob Rosenschein, GuruNet founder and chief executive.

Many Internet search players are paying more attention to mobile search as more people grow accustomed to getting information on the fly. In recent months, Google, Yahoo and 4Info.net have unveiled new services for getting local business information or movie times via short text messaging. America Online also plans to introduce a mobile search service later this year.

Answers.com tries to be different from mainstream search engines by serving up an array of editorially produced reference materials. In contrast, search engines list Web pages their algorithms deem relevant to the search term.

GuruNet boasts about 100 information sources populating its results, including search engines, encyclopedias, almanacs, image databases and dictionaries.

Google recently replaced the de facto reference guide Dictionary.com with Answers.com. And GuruNet has licensed Google's technology and syndicated advertising for its Answers.com service.