Yahoo Strengthens Global Mobile Presence
Yahoo solidified its stake in the mobile services space across both Asia and Latin America on Tuesday, with the company announcing deals and new services for consumers in both regions.
In Asia, the company struck deals with nine carriers to provide Yahoo-branded services to customers, as well as debuting a version of its Yahoo Go offering in Traditional Chinese to users in Taiwan.
Combined with six previous deals in the region, Yahoo will then reach approximately 40 percent of all mobile subscribers in the region it serves. Such a broad reach is important as it is locked in an increasingly bitter mobile battle with competitor Google.
Officials at Yahoo said to expect additional deals in the near future which will push its market share over the 50 percent mark. Right now it holds either exclusive or preferred deals (where Yahoo's offerings get top billing) in four of India's eight biggest carriers, Indonesia's top four carriers, Malaysia's number 1 and 3 carriers, and Hong Kong's second and third biggest operators.
Across the Pacific in Latin America, Yahoo has arranged several deals to place its OneSearch product on the phones of consumers there. The first to gain access to the product -- introduced in the US earlier this year -- will be Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. The company had earlier signed a deal with Telefonica, one of the region's largest operators.
In addition to Latin America, the content deal also included the company's European holdings, totaling about 100 million consumers.