V-Enable, a voice-enabled mobile 411 system, conducted a study by taking a random sampling of 20,000 searches in major metropolitan areas from customers of several V-Enable partner carriers including Alltel and MetroPCS. The findings clearly represent interesting trends caused by the recession. For one thing, people are eating more pizza! The results for the top restaurant searches for the period between October 2007 and June 2008 are:

1. Pizza Hut
2. McDonald’s
3. Domino’s Pizza
4. Starbucks
5. Papa John’s Pizza
6. Little Caesars Pizza
7. Taco Bell
8. Burger King
9. Wendy’s
10. Denny’s

Sit-down restaurants like Olive Garden, Applebee’s and Red Lobster, have dropped off the list, while recession-proof comfort food like Pizza Hut and Domino’s shoot to the top of the list. 380% more searches for Pizza Hut have been conducted during the period, and searches for Domino’s Pizza have increased 980%. High gas prices are keeping people at home ordering in, and they are opting for cheaper alternatives. Financial analysts have explored this area extensively, and have deemed several of these restaurant chains “recession-proof stocks.”

There are several other search-related economic indicators from V-Enable. U-Haul, a company that was never on any top 50 list, jumped to #23 in general search, possibly because of a rise in foreclosures. Macy’s dropped from #17 to #49 in retail, a direct correlation to the fact that people just don’t have the discretionary income that they used to. Motel 6 has never showed up on a top 50 list, but they are now #37 in general search, quite possibly because travelers can’t afford the costly alternatives. Mobile search happens in real-time and is unaffected by SEO, making these statistics arguably more reflective of consumer sentiment than web search.

V-Enable is a mobile information system, where users can speak the name of a restaurant or residential listing and receive location and contact information. The company also has live operators working behind the scenes so that users can call and get human assistance, if necessary. V-Enable sent us similar retail statistics in December. The company is backed by $10.1 million over 3 rounds from Siemens Mobile Acceleration Corporation, Sorrento Ventures, SoftBank Capital and Palisades Ventures.

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San Diego based V-Enable, a free 411 service provider we first wrote about in December is celebrating April 11 (4/11) with a new product that adds real humans to the mix.

FreeMobile411 (available at both freemobile411.com and fm411.mobi) expands on V-Enables previous handset only offering by providing any mobile free 411 service complete with the regular features, such as residential and business search.

Where the product differs from others, such as 1-800-Free-411 and Google’s Goog411 is the option of operator assistance, allowing consumers to speak with a live operator when they need one. V-Enable claims they are the first free 411 service to offer operator assistance.

Using real people to assist with free 411 calls seems like a step back into the past, but it’s a point of differentiation that may appeal to some people, like baby boomers.

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1.Wal-Mart
2.Target
3.Game Stop
4.Best Buy
5.Walgreens
6.Publix
7.AutoZone
8.KMart
9. Toys R Us
10. Blockbuster Video
11. CVS
12. Circuit City
13. Home Depot
14. Radio Shack
15. Sears

Yes, apparently thousands of gigantic warehouses throughout America can’t be found.

San Diego based V-Enable offers an automated 411 product by the name of Mobile411 that comes pre-installed on mobile handsets and uses voice input and recognition through the software. The idea is that voice is a more accurate way to capture a 411 lookup on a mobile phone than text is. The results of a search are returned on the mobile phone itself, think Yellowpages online but with voice input. Notably this is a carrier based solution that competes with a raft of free ad supported players such as Google (Goog-411).

V-Enable was established in 2001 and has taken $10.1 million over three rounds. Investors include Siemens Mobile Acceleration Corporation, Sorrento Ventures, SoftBank Capital and Palisades Ventures.

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