.mobi Yahoo in search deal with Asian mobile operators

[dochlaggie]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. said it signed agreements with six mobile operators across Asia, as part of a broad global expansion that will see its mobile services in tens of millions of phones by the end of the year.

The six deals in Asia represents a combined subscriber base of nearly 100 million.

Yahoo's oneSearch service lets users download e-mails, search the Internet, view Web pictures and check weather conditions.

Internet companies Yahoo, Google and Microsoft see offering its products on cell phones as one of the most important sources of future growth as subscribers climb globally.

The operators that will offer Yahoo's mobile search service are Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Idea Cellular Limited in India, LG Telecom in Korea, Maxis Communications Berhad in Malaysia, PT Telekomunikasi Selular in Indonesia and Taiwan Mobile.

Yahoo, whose co-founder Jerry Yang replaced former Hollywood chieftain Terry Semel as Yahoo chief executive on Monday, said it will begin offering local language mobile services in 13 countries.

Other countries earmarked for expansion include France, Germany, and Spain. A version of Yahoo's mobile software has been available free to download in the United States since January.

(Additional reporting by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty in Bangalore)


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[Traveler]

This is great news, I get a bit of traffic from Yahoo's OneSearch and I will be happy to get even more traffic to my .mobis!

 

[PVFARKAS]

saw that yahoo regd yahoogo.mobi a while back.

 

[circa1850]

saw that yahoo regd yahoogo.mobi a while back.

Oh man, that is noteworthy.

I just read an article about the troubles Google is having in China. Believe it or not, Chinese people are having a terrible time spelling it let alone saying it. Baidu and Sina is still kicking their butt and Google is having to rethink and remarket to the Chinese market. Google means nothing in Chinese and to the Chinese people whereas Baidu and Sina are Chinese. It is all about the comfort level.

There was also mention of Yahoo. I need to go back and find that article. There was talk about this very thing. Rather than enter into the market as a standalone, you team up with current players. It appears that Yahoo may actually be learning something after all about the global marketplace...how to be a team player rather than a control, control, contol everything beast.