Yahoo! Germany is very much on the move again this week, with two mobile Internet service announcements in the last 24 hours.
First, Yahoo! Germany and Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH (D2), Germany’s largest mobile communications service provider, teamed up to offer Internet services to D2 users. The deal marks the first Yahoo! Europe local venture in the company’s beyond-the-PC delivery platform.
WAP-enabled mobile phone subscribers can have instant, remote access to Yahoo! Germany’s Web programming at no fee above the call cost — if they are one of D2’s 7 million mobile telephony users. Yahoo! and D2 will also launch co-branded marketing activities as part of the agreement.
Yahoo! Germany will initially offer e-mail, news, finance and weather content in WML (Wireless Markup Language) format. The Yahoo! services will first be demonstrated at the end of August at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin.
“Yahoo! continues to expand its Yahoo! Everywhere strategy of distributing Yahoo! services through a range of PC, access, device and communication providers,” said Fabiola Arredondo, managing director of Yahoo! Europe. “We’re delighted to work with D2 to help users access relevant information and connect with others around the world without being tied to a home or office PC.”
Mannesmann Arcor also signed a contract Thursday with Deutsche Bahn to build a digital mobile phone network for the German railways operator, a deal worth DEM 3 billion (US$1.6 billion), according to a Reuters report.
Deutsche Bahn holds a stake in Mannesmann Arcor.
Last month Yahoo! Inc. acquired Online Anywhere, which provides Web-delivery solutions for non-PC devices and inked a deal with service providers Sprint PCS and PageNet.
