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Yahoo Announces Mobile Partnerships in Asia Pacific

Melissa Chua, CIO Asia

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Internet search engine firm Yahoo has announced five partnerships with Asia Pacific mobile operators: Mahanagar Telephon Nigam Limited (MTNL, India), Hong Kong CSL Limited (CSL), Smart Communications Inc. (Smart, Philippines), Digital Mobile Phlis, Inc. (SUN Cellular Philippines), and Vibo Telecom Inc. (Vibo, Taiwan).

Under the partnerships, Yahoo oneSearch, the firm's mobile search service offering, will be offered on the respective carriers' mobile Internet sites.

According to David Ko, Yahoo's VP and GM, Mobile and Broadband, the new partnerships extend Yahoo oneSearch's reach to 600 million mobile subscribers, up six times from last year's 100 million.

APAC Plans

Also announced was the availability of localized versions of Yahoo Go 3.0, the company's mobile software suite, for Australia, India and Southeast Asia. The enhanced Yahoo Go 3.0 offerings include a Bahasa Indonesia version for the Indonesian market and an English version of oneSearch capable of recognizing regional accents.

"I challenge you to trick the system," said Ko, with reference to the voice recognition ability. Yahoo had plans to release Go in other Asian languages, but could not provide a specific timeline, he added. Yahoo oneSearch with voice is currently available for selected Blackberry devices including the 8800 series, Curve and Pearl.

Yahoo's mobile strategy for the region also covers the inclusion of new mobile widgets into Go 3.0. Widgets are applications that provide real-time information updates. One of the new mobile widgets for the region is MTV Asia, which features entertainment news updates and reports on the popular music charts.

Mobile Ads

The company also inked two mobile advertising partnerships in the region, with Malaysia's Maxis Communications Berhad and India's Idea Cellular Limited. The partnerships include having the two mobile operators carry graphical advertisements from Yahoo.

"Over half of the world's population is walking around with some form of mobile device," said Prashant Mehta, VP (Monetization), Emerging Markets, Yahoo. "Mobile is the medium that's going to deliver high value for marketers to reach the consumer."

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