Yahoo! today announced an expansion
of the company's global mobile leadership, highlighted by nine new
partnerships with leading mobile operators across Asia Pacific, as well as
the availability of Yahoo! Go 2.0 in Chinese language for Taiwan. The
expansion continues the trailblazing pace at which Yahoo! has developed
compelling mobile services, fostered deep strategic partnerships with
leading mobile operators and device manufacturers, and extended the reach
of industry leading mobile services on a global basis.
"Over the past year, we have created an incredibly compelling and
relevant mobile experience for consumers and are now working with our
partners globally to help them bring this experience to consumers around
the world," said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Connected Life,
Yahoo!. "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."
YAHOO! IS THE MOBILE SEARCH PARTNER OF CHOICE
Since the introduction of Yahoo! oneSearch in January of 2007, Yahoo!
has announced distribution partnerships with 20 mobile operators around the
world, offering leading mobile search capability to consumers. Earlier this
month, Yahoo! expanded its partnership with Rogers Communications in Canada
to become the exclusive mobile Internet search service on the Rogers
Wireless mobile portal. In October, Yahoo! announced a deal with Telefonica
to provide Yahoo! oneSearch as the search engine partner on mobile portals
in 15 countries across Ireland, Latin America and the United Kingdom, as
well as the integration of Flickr and Yahoo! Mail into Telefonica's
portfolio of mobile Internet services.
The new partnership agreements announced today include leading mobile
operators across the Asia Pacific region including Aircel Limited (India),
BPL Mobile (India), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL; India), DiGi
Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi; Malaysia), PT EXCELCOMINDO PRATAMA Tbk.
(Excelcom; Indonesia), PT Hutchison CP Telecom (Hutch 3; Indonesia), PT
Indosat, Tbk (Indosat; Indonesia), PCCW Mobile HK Limited (Hong Kong) and
Starhub Ltd (Singapore).
Additional mobile search partnerships announced this year include 3
Group (Italy and the United Kingdom), Globe Telecom Inc. (Philippines),
Idea Cellular Limited (India), LG Telecom (Korea), Maxis Communications
Berhad (Malaysia), PT Telekomunikasi Selular "Telkomsel" (Indonesia)
SmarTone-Vodafone (Hong Kong) and Taiwan Mobile Co. (Taiwan).
"When it comes to creating value for our partners and fostering
meaningful and lasting relationships, we are successful because we have
developed rich experiences that are tailored to the needs of individual
partners and their consumers," said Steve Boom, senior vice president,
Mobile and Broadband Connected Life, Yahoo!. "We are in constant
conversations with partners about ways to deliver even more compelling
mobile experiences to consumers. More than 80 mobile operators and device
manufacturers in 40 countries are looking to Yahoo! to help them deliver
great mobile experiences to their customers and develop new revenue
opportunities."
CONTINUED FOCUS ON ENHANCING THE MOBILE EXPERIENCE
With the launch of Yahoo! Go 2.0 earlier this year, Yahoo! has changed
the way consumers access and use the mobile Internet. Yahoo! combines its
powerful brand, deep experience in search and mobile technology, as well as
its relationships with leading content providers, carriers, device
manufacturers to deliver an unmatched mobile experience -- providing
consumers with easy access to the open mobile Web.
Yahoo! Go 2.0 is an innovative application, designed specifically for
the mobile user, that allows consumers the ability to personalize their
mobile Internet experience with content from the entire Internet -- not
just Yahoo! -- and a reinvention of search via oneSearch. The unique
carousel design of the service makes it simple for consumers to quickly
navigate the selection of Yahoo! Go widgets, personal channels for e-mail,
local information, satellite and hybrid maps, news, sports, finance,
entertainment, weather, Flickr photo sharing and search. Yahoo! Go 2.0 even
features optional GPS integration on select devices. Localized versions of
the service are available in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and the
Americas.
"Until Yahoo! Go 2.0, no mobile application managed to assemble the
fragmented Internet services into a single easy-to-use experience," said
Ojas Rege, vice president of global mobile products, Connected Life,
Yahoo!, Inc. "We're continuing to innovate and develop mobile products that
deliver positive consumer experiences and drive the mobile market forward."
Yahoo! continues to drive the industry forward by innovating, refining
and enhancing the mobile experience. Yahoo! oneSearch recently incorporated
content from Yahoo! Answers and Wikipedia to increase the amount of rich
content available in consumers' mobile search results and deliver instant
answers from a variety of sources. By adding content from Yahoo! Answers
and Wikipedia, Yahoo! is allowing mobile consumers to tap into the
Internet's largest knowledge sharing community and reference site while on
the go. Over 350 million answers from over 95 million Yahoo! Answers users
worldwide are available to consumers in 18 countries, helping them find
opinions, suggestions and facts quickly on their mobile devices.
In September, the company introduced Yahoo! oneSearch Flight Tracker, a
new way to battle travel woes with oneSearch. Consumers can stay on top of
the constantly changing air travel system right from their cell phones with
up-to-the-minute flight information, including flight departure/arrival
times, departing/arriving terminals, gates and more. Consumers simply need
to enter the airline and flight number (for example: United Airlines 97 or
UA 97) into Yahoo! oneSearch, or send a SMS query and Yahoo! will provide
detailed information on the specific flight.
Yahoo! oneSearch is currently available in 19 countries around the
world including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines,
Singapore, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and
will be available in additional countries in the near future.
DRIVING MOBILE ADVERTISING
Yahoo! is driving the growth of mobile advertising -- currently
offering mobile display advertising in 19 countries with search marketing
live in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Yahoo! is the
exclusive advertising partner for Vodafone in the United Kingdom. In the
first major partnership between a leading mobile telecommunications company
and an Internet destination, Yahoo! is using the latest technology to
provide a variety of mobile advertising formats across Vodafone's rich and
varied content services, delivering the best possible experience for both
consumers and advertisers.
In Gartner's October 2007 Dataquest Insight: "Mobile Search Revenue is
Tempting and Carrier Efforts are Non-Trivial", analysts Sandy Shen and Tole
Hart forecast that mobile advertising will rise to $12.8 billion worldwide
by 2011. Moreover, according to Hart, Gartner sees mobile advertising as
becoming the third, and interactive leg of a full media campaign and assert
it will be a key driver for mobile content over the next five years.
In March of 2007, Yahoo! launched its Mobile Publisher Services, a
suite of services designed to enable publishers to increase the discovery,
distribution and monetization of their content on mobile phones. Mobile
Publisher Services allow publishers access to the Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network,
Mobile Content Engine, Mobile Media Directory and Mobile Site Submit.
"Yahoo! defined the market for online display and search marketing, and
now we are taking advertising to the next level with solutions designed for
mobile," said Gary Roshak, vice president, advertisers and publishers,
Yahoo!. "In addition to our global sales force and trusted reputation for
service, Yahoo! offers a rich, comprehensive set of mobile ad products --
all designed to empower advertisers to tap into the rapidly growing
audience of mobile consumers."
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most
trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering
its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by
creating indispensable experiences built on trust.
Source: Yahoo!
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