Two of the biggest players in the internet and Mobile world- Yahoo and Nokia, have teamed up to strengthen their mobile and internet services in particular emerging markets. This comes after both companies have been under increasing pressure from rivals internet megastar Google and the increasing popular mobile and internet brand Apple.
- It is also set to be announced this coming Monday that Yahoo is about to strike up another separate deal to acquire an Indonesian social networking website that works on a whole range of mobile phone devices.
Both of these big steps that Yahoo is taking are to increase their efforts in emerging economies where real internet penetration is still lacking. There are millions of people accessing the internet primarily from their mobile phones so the company can spend little but still have a massive exposure for their brand as the web usage is expanding.
In the agreement with Nokia, Yahoo is said to be providing their instant messaging and email services on every type of Nokia handset that has the ability to access the internet. Nokia still remain the most popular smartphones in the world. Nokia are bringing its mapping services to t
e table in the agreement to help Yahoo in their ongoing battle with search engine giants Google. A big chunk of Nokia’s 9m Ovi software users are in markets including India as well as China.
Yahoo has plans to make inroads in such countries in preparation for the more advanced devices with speedier connections and penetration rates so that they will be seen as the brand most synonymous with the web when these devices eventually hit the market.
A bold step for both companies, time will tell if this super-team really can turn up the heat their rivals.
