Google-Verizon To Form Partnership?

September 5th, 2008

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google and Verizon are believed to be negotiating a deal together. If the deal comes through, Google would be the default search engine on Verizon’s network. If all goes well, this facility could even be extended to Verizon’s Web portal and FiOS TV service at a later stage.

With the competition among mobile service providers increasing, Verizon is certainly in need of a good search partner, and has been talking to other providers, including Microsoft.

Google, on the other hand, is equally keen to tie up with a carrier like Verizon, as the mobile search market is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the near future. Such a deal could help Google improve the relevance of their ads by making them more location specific.

Shares of both Venison and Google went up after the Wall Street Journal reported that the two companies were close to a deal.

Yahoo! already has a similar deal with AT&T.

How long such deals would be beneficial, remains to be seen, as, once the markets open up, it will be possible for users to use the search engine of their choice irrespective of the make and model of their handset.

Tags: google, mobile ppc, mobile search, verizon