London -- Yahoo Inc. last week agreed to alliance with Virgin Media Inc. under which Yahoo! oneSearch will exclusively power the Internet search experience on Virgin Media’s 4 million mobile subscribers in the U.K. Yahoo has managed to succeed Google in securing this new deal as they wish to stay competitive in the mobile search and advertising market.
The Virgin Media mobile portal will become accessible to consumers from the 8th of December, 2008 and will contribute with relevant information on almost any topic –- from news, video, games and entertainment, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos and lottery results, to Web and mobile web sites, travel information, integrated information from Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers, in addition to Yahoo!’s award-winning mobile search experience, straight to consumers’ pockets.
“Yahoo! oneSearch will also show related ringtones, wallpapers and other content within search results.”
For example, when a search is made for a football team, Yahoo! oneSearch replies back with the current scores, fixtures, team profiles, news, images and a link to the team’s Web site. Alternatively, if a user is searching for a film, Yahoo! displays the results showing times at local cinemas, reviews, news articles and information on the cast.
Yahoo is planning to capture a dominant position on rival Google in the nascent mobile search and advertising markets, having lost the battle for dominance in the desktop computer search market, and is spearheading its European efforts in Britain.
“We will continue to concentrate on investing in this area. It falls squarely within our strategy of indispensable starting points,” the head of Yahoo’s mobile operations in Europe, Mitch Lazar, told Reuters by telephone.
Yahoo intends to present itself as a choicest beginning point for Internet consumers, providing easy access to popular services and relevant information without needing to own those services and information itself.
Yahoo! oneSearch is exclusively developed for the needs of a mobile user, naturally returning results directly in the first screen, removing the need for consumers to navigate through thousands of links to find the information they want.
Yahoo! and Virgin Media both hopes to disseminate mobile sponsored search results and contextually served sponsored listings within the Virgin Media mobile portal early 2009. While concentrating on creating the monetization engine for the mobile Internet, Yahoo! is empowering advertisers to reach their target audiences at large scale and with impact. Yahoo! is delivering a compelling consumer service via Yahoo! oneSearch that will help marketers connect with mobile consumers.
The Virgin deal will carry Yahoo’s coverage of the British population using mobile search up to 80 percent from about 76 percent previously through its partnerships with operators, Yahoo said in a statement.
Commenting on the partnership, Graeme Oxby, managing director of Virgin Mobile said: “Our new Virgin Media mobile portal delivers the web to consumers’ pockets. A great mobile search service is a crucial part of this and by incorporating Yahoo! oneSearch into the portal, we are ensuring our customers have all the information they need at their fingertips. Whether you are checking the Saturday football scores or your preferred web services, you are guaranteed to find what you need with ease.”
Globally, the US based internet media giant now has around 70 such partnerships which provide them access to as many as 850 million subscribers.
Lazar said Yahoo’s next key target markets in Europe were France, Germany, Italy and Spain. “We hope to announce some arrangements in the near future,” he said.
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