Googling via SMS

From the Google Africa Blog:

In Africa, we've learned that mobile phones are easier to get to than internet connections and PCs, and that working towards our mission means working through mobile phones.

At the beginning of 2008, there were over a quarter of a billion mobile subscribers on the continent. Mobile penetration has risen from just one in 50 people at the beginning of this century to almost one third of the population today.

To that end, we are excited to launch a test of Google SMS Search in Ghana and Nigeria. (Full)

What this means is: in Ghana and Nigeria, you SMS keywords -just as you would enter them in the Google search bar in your browser- and you get an SMS back with the search results.

Here is a practical example of how it looks like.

A real tool, or a lure into higher SMS traffic?