Google now has the world’s largest provider of mobile-phone service, China Mobile, as a partner. But mobile search has far to go to be more than the niche service it is today.

China’s a fine place to start, though. China Mobile, with about 300 million subscribers, including 4.6 million added in November, has the reach to spur mobile search. The deal means China Mobile will use its portal to give customers access to Google search, according to a deal announced this week.

Chinese mobile users are a lot more proficient with mobile search compared with U.S. users, says Yankee Group analyst XJ Wang. But even their searches are mostly limited to content like ring tones and screen wallpaper, rather than restaurants and shops that could most easily lead to ad revenue. Google also faces competition from companies such as the Chinese search engine Baidu, which has a deal in which Nokia installs an icon to reach Baidu’s mobile search services.