Yahoo OneSearch is now the default mobile search engine on AT&T’s MEdia Net portal. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bruce Stewart, VP and GM of Yahoo’s Connected Life Americas, said the companies were focused on two major areas for expansion. “We wanted to increase mobile search as well as provide display ads to users on their mobile devices,” he said.
The companies have been partners for seven years, and this development builds on that partnership, Stewart added. AT&T is the first US carrier to put Yahoo’s mobile search service directly into its portal, the company said.
Jenny Bridges, a spokesperson for AT&T, said that the expanded alliance “enables AT&T and Yahoo to deliver even more compelling communications and entertainment services that are relevant to consumers’ lives.”
Through the partnership, AT&T MEdia Net users will be able to access to Yahoo news and weather content, photos from Yahoo-owned Flickr and Web and mobile sites. Relevant ringtones, games, wallpaper and other content in AT&T’s MEdia Mall will appear in search results, and AT&T’s Yellowpages.com will provide local search information.
Stewart anticipates the move to be helpful for search marketers. “How users search on a mobile device is definitely different than on a PC,” he says. “This is very targeted because you know the user is mobile and you know they’re interactive. You can reach someone that you know is accessible 24/7.”
