San Francisco — Hardly days have passed following the announcement by Microsoft to launch a Live Search Toolbar distribution deal with HP, Yahoo! Inc. and Acresso Software, formerly a division of Macrovision, which develops the “InstallShield” software installer product, announced a multi-year global agreement, the companies said on Thursday that it will make it easier to spread the Yahoo Toolbar.
The deal allows Acresso to optionally bundle yahoo toolbar with its installations of InstallShield as a value-added service. Yahoo says the distribution will reach 71,000 organizations. InstallShield has been deployed on over 500 million PCs worldwide.
“Yahoo Toolbar is currently available in more than 24 markets.”
“InstallShield is the existing standard for authoring installs — from the top 100 software producers in the world to the individual developer. By simplifying the addition of Yahoo! Toolbar into their installs, software producers of any size can bring Yahoo!’s powerful search functionality to their end-users while opening up brand new revenue opportunities,” said Mark Bishof, CEO, Acresso Software.
The Yahoo Toolbar adds capabilities such as pop-up ad blocking, Yahoo Mail notification, bookmark centralization, and some spyware protection to Internet Explorer and Firefox, the two most widely used Web browsers.
The Yahoo Toolbar will be an optional add-on that software developers employing InstallShield may choose to include alongside their own programs. With this latest contribution, Acresso Software formally announces a “value-added services” strategy to extend the benefits of InstallShield.
As software companies face slower growth, the strategy focuses on options for them to generate additional revenue and provide new capabilities for their customers. This allows them to supplement revenue they generate from sales of their own software and by sharing in the proceeds from advertising revenue generated by Yahoo and other services that will eventually be part of the program.
“Perhaps the most important in Yahoo’s effort to remain competitive with Google, the free download also features a search box.”
“Our goal is to offer users access to the most comprehensive and relevant content on the Web. With InstallShield being deployed on more than 500 million PCs worldwide, this partnership gives us the ability to extend our reach with Yahoo! Toolbar and become the starting point for InstallShield’s global community,” said Vish Makhijani, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Yahoo! Search.
Acresso chose Yahoo as its preferred Web search provider for that program, which delivers a wider range of software tools to Windows-based PC users, said David Rowley, Acresso’s senior vice president of corporate development.
Acresso counts among its customers major software makers such as Microsoft, SAS, BMC and IBM, as well as thousands of small software makers.
The deal is designed to keep Yahoo from losing share in the competitive Web search market. Yahoo makes most of its money running ads alongside Web search and other services it offers.
Rival Google Inc., the most dominating Web search provider, has struck a series of similar distribution deals for its own toolbar with partners ranging from software maker Adobe to PC maker Dell to social network MySpace.
Microsoft Corp., the No. 3 in U.S. Web search behind Yahoo, this week displaced Yahoo in a deal with Hewlett-Packard Co to distribute Microsoft search services on HP PCs.
Yahoo! Toolbar, which was the Web’s first downloadable toolbar and is presently accessible in more than 24 markets, helps users simplify their web routines on and off Yahoo!
“Under the deal, Yahoo will pay Acresso an undisclosed amount for bringing in new Yahoo search users.”
To learn more about this new value-added service for InstallShield, please visit www.acresso.com/installshield.