San Francisco - Has Google invented the killer app for the iPhone?

The software giant has long seen internet-savvy mobile phones as its next frontier, and now it seems to have invented the perfect way to get phone users to rely on Google's search system as easily as they do over more traditional internet connections.

The company on Tuesday officially released its voice-enabled search function on the Apple iPhone, and the early reviews can be summed up in the headline offered by noted technology guru Rafe Needleman on the cNet news site: "Google 'Voice Search' hands-on verdict: Awesome."

The search application is offered as a downloadable, third-party application on the iPhone, allowing lucky owners of the must-have communications device to dictate a search term into the phone and have the answers immediately displayed in text on the phone's screen.

"Wow. That's right, wow. I mean, yeah, it's that good," enthused Chris Maxcer of MacNews World. "I've been an iPhone owner since day one, and this is the first application that's inspired me to remove one of the four core bottom applications on my home screen and replace it with a third-party app."

What makes it really cool is that the application uses the phone's built-in accelerometer to figure out when you have lifted the device to your mouth. It recognizes the spoken search words with a high degree of accuracy and, using the phone's location devices, can even prioritize local results.

Google hopes that the application will help it sell more advertising, and its ability to direct users to local businesses could prove a key attraction for advertisers. The application allows you to dial numbers included in the search results with a click.

Google said it plans to make the application available to other smartphones, with the next candidate believed to be T Mobile's G1 Smartphone, which is based on Google's open source Android software. (dpa)