Google has just released a mobile version of its Product Search for the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and Android-powered smartphones - a prudent move given that recent findings show mobile users are much more likely to engage in bargain hunting than computer users.

Google Product Search allows users to type whatever they're searching for - such as "server software" - into the search bar and receive results pulled from a variety of shopping sites.

Rob Stacey, software engineer for Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) mobile team, posted the following example at the company's Mobile Blog:

"Say you're in a store and having a hard time deciding between two products. Instead of waiting to go home to check the Internet for ratings and reviews, you can now get all of this information right there on the spot. Just take out your phone, go to Google.com in your browser, and try out Google Product Search for mobile. From Google.com, type in a query and then tap on the 'shopping' link that appears in the search results. Or, tap on the 'more' tab and then 'shopping' to get to Product Search directly."

News of Mobile Product Search comes at a time when analysts say smartphones are poised to boost online comparison shopping in the next few years.

"I predict all comparison shopping engines will be optimized for mobile, either through apps or with mobile Web sites very soon," Greg Sterling, analyst at Local Mobile Search, told InternetNews.com.

Two factors are driving the trend: the portability of smartphones and their more engaged user base, meaning people who own smartphones generally use features such as Web browsing, texting and applications more than cell phone users.

"The smartphone market is the most dynamic, healthy segment of the mobile market. People buy them because they want the enhanced capability of the Internet, so it makes sense they're more heavily engaged. Price comparisons on mobile is one thing we'll see increase fairly dramatically in the next few years," said Sterling.

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He said the coupon company ValPak recently shared some findings with him that showed mobile users are keen on using their phones for finding discounts.

"ValPak told me they quietly optimized ValPak.com for mobile in March, and they were happily surprised by the adoption and response with no promotion or formal announcement. I was told that for every four site visitors to ValPak.com on the PC the company sees one coupon print, 25 percent response or conversion, on average. But in April, with a smaller base, the company saw four coupons downloaded for every mobile site visitor, four times as much. And this grew from 200 percent in March.

"Though mobile users of the site are at this stage a much smaller group, their engagement is striking. It's evidence of the demand for coupons in a mobile context and the potential performance of those offers," said Sterling.

Indeed, the number of mobile application users is set to quadruple in five years, according to research from In-Stat. And while Apple's iPhone is leading the charge, In-Stat says worldwide sales of open source-based smartphones are expected to be double that of devices based on Apple's software over the same time period.

A mobile marketer's dream?

The increase in smartphone app usage is also providing unprecedented opportunities for mobile marketing, which in turn will result in a whole new industry catering to mobile ad analytics, said David Chamberlain, principal analyst at In-Stat and author of the report, "The Apps Store is Born: Smartphones Enable New Marketing and Advertising Opportunities Worldwide."

Chamberlain projects the number of devices supporting mobile applications will grow to about 140 million by 2013, creating a new revenue stream for mobile advertising.

Mobile app-centric smartphones -- led by the iPhone and Android-based handsets -- will reach more than 30 percent of the global smartphone market. With the customer base expanding and users downloading more mobile apps, Chamberlain said there's a huge opportunity to capitalize on the format.