Search firm Yahoo and mobile maker Nokia have announced a partnership covering a number of aspects of web services and search, as both firms look to make up ground lost to Google, Apple and Research in Motion (RIM).
The deal, which builds on a relationship which began five years ago, will see Yahoo become the exclusive provider of Nokia’s mail and chat services, which will be branded as Ovi Mail/Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo.
In turn, Nokia will be the sole provider of Yahoo’s map and navigation services, which will see Ovi maps integrated across Yahoo properties. Finally the two firms will provide a single user ID system, so users can access selected Yahoo services through their Ovi ID.
Although Nokia is still the largest mobile phone maker in terms of units sold, its market share in the booming smartphone space is declining, as offerings from Apple, HTC and BlackBerry maker RIM are snapped up. The N97, Nokia’s touchscreen smartphone, received lukewarm reviews when it was released this time last year.
Yahoo has also struggled to keep up in the search space; Google currently claims around 85% market share, with Yahoo way back in second on around 5%.
Speaking at a press conference held to announce the deal Carol Bartz, CEO at Yahoo, said that the company has lost its focus in the maps space by choosing to focus on other areas and that the partnership will help the company in the developing world, where mobile phones are the primary way to access the Internet.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia, added that the deal will help his firm crack the US market. “We are an unusual global company in the sense that we are clearly a global leader in our industry, and yet we do not lead in the US,” he said.
The first products from the partnership are expected to be unveiled during the second half of 2010, with a fuller rollout in 2011.
