Adding another chip to its bet on the future of the wireless market,
Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. Wednesday
rolled out wireless management service Yahoo! Mobile as part of its strategy to move beyond the PC.
Yahoo! Mobile allows users to choose and send content drawn from a
personalized My Yahoo! page to a user’s wireless devices, using preference control settings. Yahoo! Mobile also offers news, tutorials, downloads and information specifically related to the user’s wireless devices.
Yahoo! Mobile initially will only support devices running on the Palm
Computing or WinCE platform, with delivery to other wireless options
expected to be introduced by fourth quarter.
“As a key component of our Yahoo! Everywhere strategy, we are committed to
making Yahoo! services available to users of any device, from any access
point, at any time,” said Mohan Vishwanath, Yahoo! Everywhere’s vice
president. “With Yahoo! Mobile, our users now have access to personalized
content, communications and services beyond the desktop.”
The Yahoo! Everywhere strategy consists of distribution agreements with
service providers and wireless device manufacturers. The recent acquisition of wireless Web delivery solution provider Online Anywhere also plays into
the campaign.
Yahoo! Wednesday also signed a deal with Mapquest.com which will provide driving directions to Yahoo! Mobile users.
In June, Yahoo! announced a co-branded marketing agreement with Sprint PCS, which plans to offer nationwide two-way wireless data transfer later this year.
Yahoo! Germany and Germany’s largest mobile communications service
provider, Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH (D2), in July announced a partnership to offer Internet services to D2 users–the first Yahoo! Europe local venture in the company’s beyond-the-PC delivery platform.