Yahoo enhances mobile partnerships

Yahoo Inc. is using the Consumer Electronics Show to tout a host of new partnerships supporting its Go 2.0 service.
The Internet giant announced pacts to preload an updated version of its wireless Web software on some handsets from Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Nokia Corp., and said it is working with Research In Motion Ltd. “to develop tighter integrations” with the BlackBerry platform this year. Yahoo also outlined a deal to serve as the mobile search service provider for Opera Software ASA and an expansion of its agreement with Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 Group.
The company continues to look to wireless to give it a much-needed boost against rival Google Inc. Yahoo’s mobile e-mail service claimed 8.5 million users in the third quarter of 2006, according to figures from M:Metrics, dwarfing Gmail’s 2.3 million mobile users; Yahoo has also gained substantial traction with its wireless news and weather services.
“The mobile side is much like the early days of the Internet, which is, ‘How do we establish a beachhead in terms of audience size, audience engagement,” Yahoo COO Daniel Rosensweig said recently during an earnings call. “We think there is a great opportunity, but the first period of time is going to be about acquiring audience, and then the monetization opportunities will (come) into effect.”