Yahoo and Motorola In Multi-Year Phone Pact
By Geoff Duncan
July 20, 2006
Yahoo and Motorola have reached a multi-year deal to embed Yahoo data services in millions of Motorola mobile phones.
Internet giant Yahoo announced yesterday that it has entered into a multi-year deal with Motorola to embed Yahoo data services in millions of Motorola mobile phones. Under the terms of the deal, optimized mid-range and high-end Motorola phones will begin including the Yahoo Go for Mobile set of services (which includes email, web search, address books, photos sharing, and Yahoo Messenger) by early 2007.
"Consumers are no longer tethered to just accessing Internet on their desktop computer, so we are bringing the best of Yahoo!'s services to the device they always have with them and use multiple times every day—their mobile phone," said Marco Boerries, senior vice president, Connected Life, Yahoo. "Together, Yahoo and Motorola are making it easier than ever before for consumers to seamlessly access their favorite web services, information and content across both their personal computer and mobile phone."
The agreement builds on an existing partnership Yahoo and Motorola entered into year ago, creating a version of Yahoo Mail on selected phones which could be accessed by a dedicated button. Under the new arrangement, Motorola will pre-load and prominently feature Yahoo Go for Mobile on selected handsets, although the companies declined to name specific models which would be included in the deal. The companies plan to make the Yahoo-enabled phones available in North America, Europe, and Asia.
The agreement is the second major sign-on for Yahoo's Go platform: last January, Yahoo struck a deal with Nokia to embed Yahoo Go services; so far only one Yahoo-enabled Nokia phone is available in the U.S. (via Cingular), although additional models are for sale in the Asian and European markets.