Nokia and Yahoo form alliance to fight Apple, Google
updated 10:40 am EDT, Mon May 24, 2010
Nokia and Yahoo integrate search, maps
Nokia and Yahoo today forged an expected alliance that will see them fuel each other's services. As part of the deal, Nokia will supply all of Yahoo's mapping and navigation services through Ovi Maps. Yahoo in turn will power both Ovi Chat and Ovi Mail.
The two also plan to unite their sign-in processes so that an account holder on one can sign into the other. Nokia is taking the first step and will have its Ovi logins work on certain Yahoo sites.
Most users will see dual-branded services start to show in the second half of this year. The union should be more apparent with a global rollout in 2011.
The alliance has been rumored for months, if not years, and is believed to be the result of both companies struggling in their respective markets. Yahoo has a much smaller impact on the mobile realm and has seen Google all but seize control of mobile search and e-mail where AOL and RIM often corner chat. Nokia's insistence on self-developed services has helped for Ovi Maps but has left it trailing in messaging, where many prefer Google, Yahoo or other device-independent platforms.
Both have struggled the most in smartphones, where Yahoo is often secondary on devices like the iPhone and Nokia has been losing ground to Apple, Google and RIM. Android has landed one of the deeper blows as its selling point is extremely tight integration with Gmail, Google Maps, Gtalk and other key Internet services.
TAGS :
iPhone, industry, Google, Nokia, Android, BlackBerry, Research in Motion, Yahoo, Ovi, mobile phones, Apple
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2010
Now there's an alliance of irrelevance...
It is not clear how the alliance of two US irrelevant players actually helps either one. In the US, the Carriers are the key to the market. Either that or a really well designed phone (i.e., the iPhone.) Nokia waited far to long to make a deal and now no Carrier wants to deal with them. And Yahoo is about as irrelevant to making or breaking a mobile phone as you can get.
So the point of this is what? To show that you should unload your stock in both companies?