Google and Yahoo Plan Further Wireless Web Expansion

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

2:03 am on November 8, 2005 | Category: Business, Web Services

Google and Yahoo are both currently making plans to further expand into mobile communication markets, by extending a number of their internet based services to cell phone users.

Over the past couple of years, both companies have made obvious efforts to extend their search services to mobile internet users. Google first broke this market in 2004, by allowing users to access search results by sending queries via text messaging. They have since created a special search interface that is optimized for cell phones, and is currently in the process of specially tailoring several of its more advanced web services for use on wireless devices.

Yahoo has also progressively moved into the mobile search industry by providing a variety of SMS and integrated WAP search options.

Yahoo’s latest venture into this emerging market is an agreement to co-release a new cell phone with SBC Communications Inc. The new phone will enable Yahoo users to link built in services with their Yahoo accounts, address books, and user preferences. The new phone will be sold by Nokia Corp, and will operate on the Cingular Wireless network. It is expected to be available to consumers starting early next year.

As the North American wireless market becomes more competitive and saturated, cell phone providers are continuously trying to find new and innovative methods of increasing revenue. This has lead to an increasingly popular trend of greater integration between mobile phones and internet services.

The desire to market phones as all-in-one communication and computing devices will likely drive mobile providers to attempt to make more deals with major internet companies like Google and Yahoo in the coming years.

Links: Google, Yahoo, SBC, Internet, WAP, Mobile Internet, Wireless Web, SMS, Search, Cell Phones, Mobile Phones, Technology.