Yahoo! and mobile handset manufacturer Nokia have recently announced that they have teamed up to deliver enhanced mobile Internet services.
According to this deal, Yahoo! and Nokia will work together to improve their mobile internet services, in an attempt to win back some of their market share from competitors like Google and Apple.
The agreement will become functional in the second half of this year, and more services may follow later. Yahoo! will host Ovi email on Nokia phones exclusively, while Nokia will provide maps and navigational services to Yahoo!
During a conference held in New York last week, Nokia and Yahoo! stressed on the need to improve and expand mobile services in new markets, as the mobile phone is fast replacing the PC.
Nokia’s Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo believes that this deal with Yahoo! will help Nokia to do better in the U.S. where it is still not doing well in spite of being the market leader in the newer markets.
He says, “Location, maps and navigation will get more mind-share, will get more attention in the U.S. and many more users in the North American market,”
While Nokia has spent over $10 billion in the last few years to offer services like music downloads email etc. they are still unable to compete with Apple and Google.
On the other hand it is a well known fact that Yahoo! has been struggling for a while now, to keep up with its rival Google which has the far more popular Android operating system.
Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz feels that this deal could eventually help Yahoo! to get more local advertising business.
Financial details of this deal are not yet available. There have been mixed responses from various analysts as to whether this deal is likely to be successful or not.
