Virgin deals with Yahoo search as pre-installed search service
Yahoo and Virgin Mobile have agreed to a deal making Yahoo search the exclusive pre-installed search service for Virgin’s four million mobile subscribers in Britain, the two companies said today. Yahoo is hoping to steal a lead on rival Google in the nascent mobile search and advertising markets, having lost the battle for dominance in the desktop computer search market, and is spearheading its European efforts in Britain. “We will continue to focus on investing in this area. It falls squarely within our strategy of indispensable starting points,” Mitch Lazar, head of Yahoo’s mobile operations in Europe, told Reuters by telephone. Yahoo aims to make itself a favourite starting point for Internet consumers, providing easy access to popular services and relevant information without needing to own those services and information itself. The Virgin deal will bring Yahoo’s coverage of the British population using mobile search up to 80% from about 76% previously through its partnerships with operators, Yahoo said, citing m:metrics data. Globally, Yahoo now has 70 such partnerships, giving it access in theory to 850 million subscribers.
Lazar said Yahoo’s next key target markets in Europe were France, Germany, Italy and Spain. “We hope to announce some arrangements in the near future,” he said.
Filed Under: Breaking News • Virgin Mobile • Yahoo • services
About the Author: Faysal Chowdhury, a Civil Engineer at day and an intelligent tech blogger at night. Stationed in Dhaka, Bangladesh he is has been with HotCellularPhone.com since the beginning, dated back to 2008. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in 2006, he started working as a Civil Engineer for Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) but his tech savvy mind always kept up with the mobile world and keeping everyone updated as well.
