Yahoo Wins T-Mobile
Tuesday T- Mobile announced that for the UK mobile search engine they would no longer be using Google. It seems Yahoo will replace Google as T- Mobiles preferred method for searching, which is a minor celebration for Yahoo. The Europe base of T- Mobile has decided that Yahoo will be the most used search provider. While it is a loss for Google, it is still not enough to save Yahoo’s current status though it will certainly help. Yahoo is competing with Google and Microsoft to win more individuals on mobile services. The field is still open for many of the mobile phone providers in order to be the most used search engine, which means that Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo will continue to compete for more than just T- Mobile.
T- Mobile and Google’s partnership was the first in a line of many that are to follow, which is why it is a bit of a surprise to find T- Mobile with Yahoo at the moment. T- Mobile announced Web n Walk as the home page for their mobile service and now that page will no longer be displaying Google, but Yahoo instead. In March T- Mobile will be partnering with 11 European countries for mobile services. This means that Yahoo’s One Search page will be the default on the T- Mobile phones. One Search has been designed for the ease of user to get search results and to be able to navigate the web while on their phones. The T- Mobile agreement has allowed Yahoo to match with the other companies in Europe to gain more around the world. There are now 29 operators around the world using the One Search web page from Yahoo.
The deal is a strategy for T- Mobile that will hopefully not backfire. There is some concern that having Yahoo as the default and being prominently displayed on the screen could be a bad move for T- Mobile. It could be that customers are actually going to prefer Google over that of Yahoo. One thing that will keep the company going is the contracts a person must be under in order to have the phone service. While customers may not be particularly happy they may find that they will not be able to leave right away. This is a minor concern however.
Google has managed to come out on top though. The loss is minor considering Google’s announcements in this week’s news. Google just partnered with Nokia to use Google as their search engine on their mobile phone plan. Nokia has been spreading wider in the market in the last few years with locations and services from other operators. This is going to help move carrier territory.
The fact is with the search engines it is possible that any of the mobile phone companies may choose one or the other depending on the deal offered. Part of the overall discussion is how to make the internet more accessible on phones and easier to use. IPhone is just one phone that has made the actual pages easier to navigate. This means the search engines are going to try and get the best deals they can to provide more internet usage to customers. Yahoo and Google are the top running companies as far as search engines go therefore there really is only a competition between the two with the mobile companies. The trick is to get the mobile phones to want to partner with the search engines. Many are using their own developed pages instead of selling outside the company. So while the field is open it is a tough market.
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