Yahoo announced this morning that its services will be pre-loaded on millions of Samsung phones worldwide. The new deal expands a relationship between the companies that began in 2007. Samsung is the second largest handset maker in the world, by unit sales, according to hardware tracking firm Gartner. Samsung is the third largest handset maker in the US but has a more limited presence in the all-important smartphone segment. According to the press release one or more of the following services will appear on Samsung handsets, including Bada (Samsung's OS) and Android phones: Yahoo! M [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Partnerships | Yahoo: Search

When Yahoo and Microsoft announced their partnership to replace Yahoo organic search index with Bing's, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said that while Yahoo would no longer crawl and index the web, they would own the search experience and continue to innovate there. I was skeptical. There's only so much innovation a search engine can do without crawling the web directly. But Yahoo is trying to prove me wrong (key word in that sentence: trying; mostly through sensational press releases, but more on that in a minute). One way Yahoo has been focusing on new searcher experiences has been through mobile. Ya [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Search

Earlier this week, we discovered that Yahoo would be the default search engine on AT&T's first Android handset, the Motorola Backflip. That's a first as far as I know, an Android device that doesn't present Google as the featured search engine. However, in the bad-news column for Yahoo, according to PaidContent, T-Mobile has now swapped it for Google as the default search engine on the T-Mobile portal. However it's no longer clear how valuable these portal deals are, as the market shifts to smartphones. Most of the mobile internet activity takes place on smartphones, though not entirely [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Microsoft: Bing | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Partnerships

Yahoo has scored a spot as the default search engine on the new Motorola Backflip, AT&T's first phone using the Android operating system. The web site Android and Me quotes this hands-on report from Engadget: Yahoo has replaced Google as the default search provider throughout the phone. It's crazy: the home screen widget, the browser, everything's been programmed to use Yahoo. Indeed, a Yahoo spokesperson confirms for Search Engine Land that AT&T is using its search services on the Backflip: We are happy that AT&T has chosen Yahoo! Search as the default mobile search service on the Mo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Search

Earlier this evening Yahoo announced that it had deepened its relationship with Twitter and would be integrating Twitter's feeds and content across its network: The partnership integrates Twitter’s real-time social experiences with Yahoo!’s global network of nearly 600M people. Together with the recently announced Facebook integration, this relationship is a key part of advancing Yahoo!’s social strategy, transforming it into a highly customizable social experience that lets people unify their activity from their many social experiences across the Web. The integration also provides Y [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Maps & Local | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Partnerships

Google has made some subtle changes to its mobile homepage and searchbox. As the Google Mobile Blog explains: The Google logo has been moved up to the top of the search results page, allowing us to increase the width and height of the search box. You can now more easily touch the larger box to enter a new search, the new big bold font makes it easier to see what you have entered, and the wider box helps you see more characters at once . . . We have also given our homepage some love. While this got the bigger search box last month, we have created a new search button beside the search box rat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

Google, Yahoo and Bing, among many others, are offering cash donations and resources to assist with disaster relief in Haiti. Here's our earlier coverage of  online resources. You can also find images of post Earthquake Haiti from Bing Maps and Google. Google has a full-blown disaster relief center with a wide range of updates, free Google Voice calls and places to donate money. There's also a "person finder" microsite to enable family members or friends to request information and others with knowledge of whereabouts or details to provide it. Mobile/SMS donations have now surpassed [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

In November, Google surprised many when it announced that it was buying mobile ad network AdMob for a massive $750 million in stock, bringing mobile advertising suddenly into the consciousness of people who'd simply not paid attention before: "Hey, maybe this thing IS for real." Now Apple is reportedly buying another tier one mobile ad network, Quattro Wireless, for $275 million. That immediately raises the question: What will Yahoo and Microsoft Do? Yahoo already is a top mobile ad network and so is Microsoft -- in both traffic and estimated revenues. Both rank in the top five in terms [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Acquisitions | Microsoft: Marketing | Microsoft: Partnerships | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines | Top News | Yahoo: Display Ads | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

The iPhone was introduced on June 29, 2007 and that was effectively the beginning of the mobile internet era. With the iPhone also came the acceleration of mobile search for Google, the default engine for the iconic Apple device. This year mobile became a cornerstone of Google's strategy with a string of announcements, product tweaks and the $750 million AdMob acquisition announcement (now under FTC scrutiny). The aborted $500+ million Yelp acquisition was also partly about mobile as well. The big mobile story of 2009, however, is the rise of smartphone adoption and in particular the iPh [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Top News | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Outside US

Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider told the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York that Yahoo was seeing "incredible . . . extraordinary" growth in mobile (she means usage primarily). The company, by several metrics, is one of the largest in mobile. It operates one of the top three mobile ad networks in the US and enjoys a massive global, mobile footprint. But the question is: will Yahoo be able to keep up in mobile over time? Among the big internet companies Yahoo has been the leader in mobile advertising to date. However Google recently bought both AdMob (in a highly publicized announcement) an [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Mobile | Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

Yahoo has decided to discontinue its "Go" mobile app. Go was originally part of a larger "three screen" strategy that included TV and mobile delivery of Yahoo content. The Go app was intended as a way to have a richer, self-contained experience on mobile devices. But that strategy has given way to a "Yahoo for mobile" mobile portal approach that is consistent across most high-end mobile devices -- and doesn't require an app download. Of course Yahoo also still has mobile apps for selected smartphones, including the iPhone. In fact the "Go" experience was never really that impressive and the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

Yahoo has smartly launched a Spanish Language version of its mobile homepage. The company cites Census data that reflect a population of 46 million Hispanic people in the US. Yahoo also cited comScore data that show tremendous mobile internet growth among Hispanics, which is "outpacing that of all other groups, with 88% of Hispanics consuming content on their mobile phones." Here's the new Spanish language mobile homepage, which mirrors the look and feel of the English-language version: Here's the PC version; note the tile ad en Espanol: The ad below from the Spanish mobile si [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Display Ads | Yahoo: General | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

Who expected the search wars to open a new front involving WiFi? Google, Bing & Yahoo have each just announced free WiFi promotions of various sorts. Google, which previously said it would provide free WiFi on all Virgin America flights through early next year, is now going to provide it at 47 US airports through the end of the year. A partial list includes "Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. Additionally, as a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering ai [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

Yahoo reported today that the company had "entered into an exclusive, multi-year, partnership with O2 Germany to become the preferred partner for mobile search and services, displacing Google." Paid search results are reportedly part of the deal (and likely a revenue share as well). According to press materials: O2 users now have direct access to Yahoo!’s mobile-optimized search engine, which is specifically designed to provide quick and easily accessible answers for users on the go. Yahoo! most popular properties including Yahoo! Mail, News, Weather, Finance, Flickr, Eurosports and Soccer [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Partnerships

Yesterday at the CTIA mobile conference, Yahoo Mobile SVP David Ko announced a range of upgrades to its mobile homepage. The new homepage was launched this past April. According to the statement that Yahoo put out yesterday, the homepage has been optimized for 1,900 devices. Video is also a bigger part of the experience now on smartphones. Changes and upgrades for smartphones include the following: Dynamically updated content with pagination – without using additional screen real estate or refreshing, users are able to access a wealth of content. For example, the ‘Tod [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Video

The Yahoo Search Marketing Blog announced that your search ads will now automatically be displayed on iPhone & Android mobile phones. Yes, Yahoo said, this is an automatic opt in for all advertisers. Yahoo said, "As of today, your ads should begin appearing immediately on these devices for relevant searches, if they have not already." Yahoo boasted, if you didn't have your ads on mobile devices, then "we’ve done it for you." I assume there is an easy way to opt out, if you specifically do not want to show your ads on these devices? Here is a picture of the ads: There are also [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Search Ads

Last week Yahoo launched its new homepage, which allows users to customize the site and improves overall usability. The centerpiece of the recently launched Yahoo homepage is My Favorites, the new customizable left column that allows users to add third party content and make it more of a personal "dashboard." The Yahoo mobile browser homepage, the most recent version of which was launched in Q1, already featured a heavy dose of personalization. However, Yahoo has updated the mobile homepage to bring it more into alignment with the new PC homepage. The updated mobile homepage, which offers s [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

A new report finds that mobile search and answers service ChaCha beat Google and Yahoo's voice search tools in terms of overall accuracy and reliability across a range of query types in a controlled study. The study was conducted by Albright Communications/MSearchGroove in January of this year. The report, which can be downloaded from the ChaCha site, was sponsored by ChaCha but the authors said, "While ChaCha sponsored the study, it was fully removed from the planning, testing, analysis, and reporting of this work." The methodology was very specific and relatively elaborate. I summarize it [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Google: Voice Search | Microsoft: Bing 411 | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines | Yahoo: Mobile & Go

We've known for some time, based on a number of studies from Microsoft, Yahoo, SEM firms and ad networks, that an online ad campaign that includes both display and search performs better than one that features only display or search. In another version of that same theme, Yahoo recently said that it was using search queries as part of its larger behavioral targeting efforts across its display network. In other words, search queries become part of the targeting data that inform what display ads are shown to users thereafter. Display advertising has been battered in this recession despite ple [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Partnerships | Yahoo: SmartAds

MobileCrunch noticed Yahoo has added voice search capabilities to their Yahoo One Search iPhone App. I spent a few minutes testing it out and I have to say, that is does an okay job. I didn't conduct enough tests to really compare it against Google's iPhone voice search feature. They are both different in how they work. First let me show you Yahoo's voice search for a test on [who is barry schwartz]: Step 1: Click on the "Press + Speak" button to activate voice search: Step 2: Speak when button turns red and then tap it again when you are done talking: Step 3: The button [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Voice Search | Search Features: Search By Voice | Yahoo: Mobile & Go | Yahoo: Search