Wacky Idea: A Yahoo-Nokia Combination

Jan 12, 2009 at 2:22pm ET by Greg Sterling

As the MicroHoo dance continues, here’s a wacky idea that just occurred to me: why doesn’t Nokia invest in or acquire Yahoo? It’s partly suggested by this Fortune article that discusses the challenges that the world’s leading handset maker faces in penetrating North America.

Nokia has added a bunch of online services that try and bridge the internet and mobile. Indeed, Nokia is trying to position itself as an internet company of sorts. And mobile search will be a big ad-revenue driver in the medium term. It’s already a critical element of an overall mobile offering.

Yahoo, obviously, is making a huge mobile push and has relationships with carriers and OEMs around the globe. Yahoo’s content and online presence would bolster Nokia’s efforts to attract users and build services (both in mobile and online), especially in the US market. Yahoo Mail has generally been the top mobile site in the US market:

Nokia’s reach would help Yahoo in mobile in myriad ways around the world. The two companies already have a partnership that offers some of Yahoo’s services on Nokia phones.

I’m not a financial analyst and don’t know whether there are any debt or equity issues that would be a problem in such a deal. But there’s something fairly complementary here in my opinion.

Just a wacky thought — or is it?

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and writes a personal blog Screenwerk, examining the broader world of media and advertising. He also posts at a Local Mobile Search, which is focused on the mobile Internet.

See more articles by Greg Sterling >

Share, Bookmark & Discuss This Article
More:

See more stories like this in the Members Library! Check out the Features: Analysis, Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal, Yahoo: Mobile & Go, Yahoo: Outside US, Yahoo: Partnerships sections of the Members Library where this story is filed. Members also get access to exclusive video content, a members-only weekly & monthly newsletter, plus more. Check out all the benefits!

FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!