When it comes to mobile search, Yahoo has been making aggressive moves this year in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and has worked with the Mobile Marketing Association to help develop and establish mobile Web advertising guidelines.
“Yahoo is racing to attract subscribers to Internet services delivered via mobile phones rather than computer browsers as rival Google unveiled a plan to offer software to create a new class of Internet-ready phones.”
After striking a deal in October with Telefonica SA, a Madrid-based telecommunications company with affiliated networks around the world, Yahoo! has now announced a multitude of deals with mobile operators in Asia and increased the availability of its mobile phone web services in major Latin American markets.
“Asia is the fastest growing regional market for mobile services, while China is the world’s biggest mobile market.”
Yahoo, a leading global Internet company, on Tuesday announced strategic partnership agreements to provide mobile Internet search services to nine Asian mobile operators, which brings Yahoo’s “oneSearch” distribution partnership total to 20 mobile operators worldwide, bolstering its increasing lead in the fastest-growing regional market for mobile services by users.
“It is a battle between Google and Yahoo on the mobile advertising front,” said analyst Greg Sterling.
The Asian mobile operators that signed search deals with Yahoo are: Aircel Ltd., BPL Mobile Communications Ltd., and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. in India; PT Excelcomindo Pratama, PT Hutchison CP Telecom Indonesia and PT Indonesian Satellite Corp. in Indonesia; DiGi.com Bhd in Malaysia; StarHub Ltd. in Singapore; and PCCW Ltd. in Hong Kong.
Today’s partnership with BSNL, BPL Mobile and Aircel Ltd is part of the broad series of partnerships Yahoo! announced at Mobile Asia Congress in Macau to further extend the global reach of oneSearch and further improve consumers’ search experience on mobile devices.
Through the launch of Yahoo! oneSearch, BSNL, BPL Mobile and Aircel Ltd will make it easier for its customers to find relevant results on their mobile devices. Together, BSNL, BPL Mobile, Aircel Ltd and Yahoo! are enhancing the search experience for consumers on mobile phones, while providing both companies with new revenue streams through mobile advertising.
The Silicon Valley-based Internet Company also said that it was introducing a mobile service called “Yahoo Go” in traditional Chinese in Taiwan. These deals build on six earlier Asian carrier partnerships announced in June.
Marco Boerries, executive vice president of connected life at Yahoo, laid out the search company’s mobile agenda: “We will continue to develop new and enhanced services for our consumers to drive increased mobile adoption while working with our partners to accelerate monetization and grow new revenue streams.”
“Those 16 deals will give us roughly 40 percent coverage of all subscribers in those countries,” Boerries, said in a phone interview.
Mobile search services ultimately are about the advertising. Internet service providers and Telecommunications carriers are looking to capture a chunk of a market that research firm Gartner expects not only that mobile advertising will rise to $12.8 billion worldwide by 2011 but also that mobile advertising will become the third and interactive leg of a full media campaign.
“Yahoo is suiting up for battle with Google for its share of those dollars.”
Mobile devices have emerged as a new battleground for Internet companies such as Yahoo and rival Google Inc. that are rushing to get their services onto cell-phones. Both Yahoo and Google have built mobile applications in an effort to win places on those devices, just as they have on personal computers, and build advertising businesses there.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet Company said the company will share advertising revenue with the mobile operators. Yahoo now has 16 mobile Internet search partnerships in Asia. In June, it signed deals with Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines, Idea Cellular Ltd. in India, LG Telecom Co. Ltd. in South Korea, Maxis Communications Bhd. in Malaysia, PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) in Indonesia and Taiwan Mobile Co.
Boerries said there were more deals coming. “We have a clear goal to lead the market. The goal is to exceed 50 percent.”
In Japan and China, Yahoo operates through joint ventures that handle all deal-making with mobile operators, Boerries said. It is working with China’s Alibaba.com on deals with carriers in the world’s biggest mobile market.
Yahoo Japan is majority-owned by Softbank, the country’s No. 3 mobile operator. Yahoo Web services also are offered via No. 1 carrier NTT DoCoMo via a non-exclusive deal.
Since introducing OneSearch, its Internet service for mobile phones, Yahoo has struck deals with 20 mobile operators worldwide. Its broadest deal, with Telefonica of Spain, covers up to 100 million phone subscribers in several European and Latin American markets.
Yahoo! oneSearch is specifically designed for mobile devices, delivering results directly in the first screen and thereby removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of links to PC Web sites to find the information they want. This Yahoo service was first introduced in the United States earlier this year.
“Yahoo! oneSearch gives consumers access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, information from Yahoo! Answers users around the globe Web images, as well as Web and Mobile Web sites.”
Steve Boom, Yahoo’s senior vice president of broadband access and bundled services, said Tuesday the Asian focus is driven by the strong growth in mobile subscribers across the region.
“Asia is a critical market…because many customers may have no other means of accessing the Internet,” he said on the sidelines of the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau. “The penetration of personal computers in Asia is still lower than those in the U.S. and Western Europe.”
The arrangement with BSNL also includes providing Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger services to BSNL subscribers, in India.
“BSNL is please to partner with Yahoo! In bringing to its subscribers a true mobile internet experience with Yahoo! oneSearch. We look at this as the start of a deepening relationship in the months to come,” said Gopal Das, Director BSNL.
Commenting on the BPL Mobile-Yahoo! tie-up, BPL Mobile CEO S. Subramaniam said, “This relationship will leverage the strengths of both the companies to deliver a high quality service to our subscribers.”
Sunzay Passari, VP-VAS and Devices for BPL Mobile said “This is part of our sustained efforts to ensure that our subscribers have an instant access to dependable information and exciting entertainment on the go.”
“Yahoo offers a rich set of mobile ad products that aim to empower advertisers to leverage the rapidly growing audience of mobile consumers.”
“Microsoft is in the mobile game with its mobile operating system and there are third parties out providing services to carriers, but, like on the Internet, it is a battle between Google and Yahoo on the mobile advertising front,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence.
“Yahoo!’s new partnership with BSNL, BPL and Maxis Aircel furthers our leadership in mobile and demonstrates our commitment to working to enhance the mobile Internet experience by delivering relevant information and instant answers to customers on their mobile devices,” said David Ko, VP and GM, Yahoo! Connected Life.
“Together we can further increase usage of mobile Internet services and create new revenue streams through mobile advertising.” added Vishal Maheshwari, Director – Yahoo! Mobile, India.
Yahoo is the clear leader in Asia, Sterling added, and has a strong user experience. But Google is taking an altogether different approach with Android by allowing developers to build on its open source platform. Sterling compared Android to the iPhone interface with “some interesting twists.”
“If people build on top of Android and those phones get disseminated into the market, Google could give Yahoo a run for its money. Of course, Yahoo could build on top of Android as well,” Sterling said. “It is going to be a fairly heated contest.”
Yahoo! oneSearch is now available in 20 countries around the world (including Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Italy, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, etc.) Yahoo! oneSearch first launched in the United States in January 2007.
For information on oneSearch and Yahoo!’s other mobile products please visit http://mobile.yahoo.com.