By Michal Lev-Ram

LAS VEGAS — At a moment when Yahoo desperately needs to wow investors, the company unveiled a handful of enhancements to its mobile search service that are also being offered by rivals Google and Microsoft.

The announcement, made Wednesday at the CTIA wireless show in Las Vegas, includes a new voice-enabled search function that allows consumers to look up restaurants and websites by speaking into the phone. This could be a useful feature for people without QWERTY keypads on their phone, or for those who want to look up information while driving. The only problem is, Microsoft (MSFT) already offers a similar application on its Live Search mobile service.

Yahoo (YHOO) says its new voice recognition feature can adapt to a user’s voice over time and is now available for download on select Blackberry devices, including the Pearl and Curve. More compatible devices will be added in coming months.

Yahoo also unveiled a search box that will sit directly on a phone’s homepage, which will allow users to look up whatever they want without having to open their browser — a feature similar to a Google (GOOG) software “shortcut” for cell phones launched just last month.

On top of these features, Yahoo also plans to offer a downloadable application that tries to predict a user’s search as he or she starts typing. This is similar to the search assist function on Yahoo’s online homepage (accessible on a PC) but is the first such feature to become available on a mobile device. In other words, Microsoft and Google aren’t one step ahead on this one. Yahoo says its new recommendation tool can cut down on the amount of time it takes to conduct a search from a cell phone. Currently, this function is only available on Apple (AAPL) iPhones, which come loaded with Google applications like YouTube videos.

The new enhancements to Yahoo’s mobile search application will likely make it a smarter, faster and easier to use service. But, with the majority of the just-announced updates already available from the company’s rivals, it’s unlikely it will be enough to significantly differentiate Yahoo and deliver the much-needed pizazz investors are looking for as the company tries to fend off a takeover bid by Microsoft.

By Michal Lev-Ram

LAS VEGAS — The CTIA wireless trade show kicked off Tuesday morning with a slew of keynote speeches by Federal Communications Chairman Kevin Martin, Sprint (S) CEO Dan Hesse, Virgin Mobile founder Richard Branson and Robert Bach, president of Microsoft’s (MSFT) entertainment and devices division.

The Las Vegas-based wireless confab attracts more than 1,000 companies – including phone manufacturers, chip makers and mobile operators – and an estimated 40,000 show-goers.

This year’s event will likely center on the advent of so-called “open” networks, 4G technology and the continued blurring of the lines between consumer and business devices.

Tuesday’s star-studded speeches focused on all of these issues, and even managed to touch on the future of space tourism. The past year has been a big one for the wireless industry, with Apple’s disruptive iPhone launch, the FCC spectrum auction and the move towards more open networks.

FCC chairman Martin spoke about the recently-closed government spectrum auction, which raised nearly $20 billion. A portion of those airwaves will be used for a new network that will allow access to any device or service. Martin said that although the new conditions were initially opposed by the industry, a network that is more open to devices and applications can “help foster innovation and give consumers freedom.”

Virgin’s Branson shared his thoughts on Virgin’s nontraditional way of doing business and called the current economic downturn a “cycle that will turn around again.” The colorful entrepreneur also talked about climate change and his plans to send several dozen people (and animals and plant seeds) in a “Noah’s ark” mission to Mars. And yes, he also mentioned his company’s small mobile operator, Virgin Mobile.

Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division announced an update to the company’s Windows Mobile operating system for cell phones. The enhanced version aims to make finding applications on the phone easier and faster for consumers, and is part of Microsoft Window’s attempt to shed its image as a business-centric operating system.

Also on Tuesday, the CTIA released new industry survey results showing there are now 255 million subscribers in the United States, which means about 84% of the total U.S. population now owns a cell phone.

He may have referred to his BlackBerry as a “dumbass Crackberry,” but legendary music producer Quincy Jones has long been known for embracing technological innovation - the electronic Fender bass, the synthesizer and the Internet (he started his own online show last summer). That’s why the 74-year-old producer of Michael Jackson’s best-selling album “Thriller” was asked to host yesterday’s Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live, an all-day symposium on the entertainment and wireless industries, and the opening act for this week’s CTIA show in San Francisco.

Over the next three days, several big names are expected to take the stage at the biannual wireless conference: Microsoft’s (MSFT) Steve Ballmer and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz are keynote speakers, to name a few. The show, officially called CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment 2007, brings together companies like Motorola (MOT), Nokia and AT&T (T) as well as smaller startups. Mobile music and advertising are expected to be two big themes this year.

Although it starts Tuesday morning, some companies were busy making announcements ahead of the conference on Monday: AT&T, for example, unveiled an upcoming music service with Napster. Look for new device launches from several companies (including T-Mobile) as well throughout the show.

As for Quincy Jones, he won’t be around the rest of the week, but he did have some parting words in a one-on-one interview after his keynote at Monday’s Billboard event:

“This is truly the information age,” he said. “But what’s yet to come will blow your mind.”

That’s not likely to happen at this year’s CTIA, of course, but maybe in the future.