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June 20, 2007
Yahoo! continues its massive push in the mobile market with a couple of big announcements coming out of Sunnyvale this morning:
Today’s announcement brings a newly-updated version of the Y!Go service that includes, among other improvements:
As you can see from the Yahoo!-provided screenshots, Y!Go and oneSearch provide a wealth of information in an easy-to-use format. Yahoo! has done a great job of making content that most people associate with the traditional Internet (like satellite and hybrid maps and Flickr) easy to digest on a mobile device.
In addition to the US launch on Friday, Yahoo! is also rolling out localized beta versions for 13 more countries: Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, Thailand and Vietnam. These localized beta versions will have much of the same functionality available in the US version and will work on a similar set of devices. Yahoo! also announced that it had signed deals with sex major operators in Asia representing over 100 million subscribers. The included mobile operators include Globe Telecom, Idea Cellular Limited, LG Telecom, Maxis Communications Berhad, PT Telekomunikasi Selular “Telkomsel”, and Taiwan Mobile. Under these deals, Yahoo! has expanded oneSearch’s reach into the Philippines, India, Korea, Malaysia), Indonesia, and Taiwan.
I’m hoping to get some information from Yahoo! on their plans to market these mobile offerings offline. As I said back in March, I think Sunnyvale has some really compelling products on their hands here. And while partnerships and distribution deals will help get these products in front of new mobile device owners, it doesn’t really address the millions of people across the globe who have compatible devices already. I want to see some offline marketing of Yahoo!Go and oneSearch. I really think it could help solidify Yahoo!’s goal of becoming the global leader in mobile Internet. They’ve already got a mobile advertising platform and a mobile publisher network to help “mobilize” existing web content. Yahoo! has, more so than just about any other Internet company, shown a huge interest in the mobile web. Today’s announcements help further that cause and improve on an already excellent product. More coverage at the Wall Street Journal and Techmeme.
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