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Yahoo broadens mobile search footprint with T-Mobile deal

Online and mobile media giant Yahoo Inc. increased its mobile search footprint by becoming the exclusive search service on T-Mobile USA Inc.'s new web2go browser for the mobile phone.

The deal comes soon after Yahoo oneSearch launched in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

"Carriers are incredibly important in reaching the end consumer and Yahoo's goal in mobile is to be the starting point," said Yahoo spokesman Cory Pforzheimer in Sunnyvale, CA.

Subscribers who search through T-Mobile's web2go service will be able to access news, financial information, Flickr photos, Web images, links to mobile and wired Web sites and weather updates.

The search functionality will also display relevant wallpaper, games, ringtones and other content for sale in the T-Mobile Store.

Yahoo oneSearch is one of many features that T-Mobile has added to support its web2go service.

Web2go offers a browser, a customized homepage and a simplified shopping and download experience, according to the Bellevue, WA-based subsidiary of German-owned T-Mobile International.

T-Mobile USA is the third-largest wireless carrier nationwide. The company claims 32 million subscribers.

Searching for share
Carriers nationwide are pushing aggressively to gain market share.

For example, AT&T, the No. 1 carrier, in the summer introduced the new Apple iPhone 3G to its subscribers. Verizon Wireless recently won regulatory approval to buy Alltel Wireless, the nation's No. 5 carrier. The troubled Sprint Nextel launched its Xohm service in Baltimore, MD.

Each one of these carriers, including T-Mobile, has struck various deals to offer content and better data plans for their subscribers.

Take T-Mobile, for example. Along with the new web2go service and the Yahoo oneSearch relationship, the company has also announced new bundled data plans for Web, email and messaging across compatible phones and devices.

Unlimited data plans along with more Web functionality are becoming de rigueur for most carriers to improve the consumer experience on mobile phones.

The Yahoo oneSearch functionality on T-Mobile's web2go will intuitively return results grouped around a consumer's query intent.

So, a search for a sports team will return Yahoo oneSearch listings comprising the latest scores, team profiles, schedules, roster, news, images and a link to the team site.

A similar holistic snapshot is offered with a Yahoo oneSearch query for a movie -- reviews, show times at local theatres, cast bios and news articles.

Yahoo oneSearch is available on all T-Mobile phones, except the new G1, which has its own Google-led Android operating system.

In addition to T-Mobile, Yahoo oneSearch is available as the default mobile search service on phones approved by AT&T and Helio, accounting for a reach of 105 million mobile subscribers under carrier contract nationwide.

Overseas, Yahoo oneSearch is available on phone approved by Rogers Wireless in Canada. Yahoo also has relationships with America Movil for its operations in 16 countries across Latin America and Telefonica for its 15 markets in Europe and Latin America.

Yahoo's strategy is to ensure growing penetration of its service through partnerships with carriers.

"Obviously a lot of people start their mobile Internet experience through a carrier's portal, so we want to be front and center of that," Mr. Pforzheimer said.