Yahoo Says Go for Mobiles

Yahoo aims to stake more claims in the mobile phone arena with Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0, with improved content and search capabilities.

In addition to buddying up with Apple on its iPhone, Yahoo wants to make sure its presence is felt in the rest of the mobile phone world with the announcement of Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0, available now for download for use on selected Motorola’s RAZR handsets as well as more than 70 other mobile devices.

Yahoo says Go for Mobile 2.0 redefines mobile Internet through a unique design andthe ability to personalize Internet content, as well as a new mobile search feature. Yahoo’s oneSearch attempts to discern the “intent” of user-entered search terms and display the most relevant content first, with results grouped by subject. As an example, Yahoo posits taht searching for the name of a sports team would list the final score of the team’s most recent game and information about the next scheduled game, reasoning that the mobile user’s intent is to get the last breaking information about the team, rather than find a link to a random fan’s Web site. (Of course, if you really do want that random fan’s site—perhaps because you are yourself that random fan—you may have to do some serious digging.) Nonetheless, Yahoo is upbeat about oneSearch: “Yahoo oneSearch changes the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers’ access and use the Internet on their mobile phones,” said Marco Boerries, Yahoo’s senior VP of connected life. “Yahoo oneSearch delivers the right results with just one search.”

In addition, a new Local & Maps widget provides quikck access to local directory information and business listings, as well as interactive maps, driving directions, and real-time traffic information. Go for Mobile 2.0 also offers highly customizable headline services covering news, entertainment, sports, weather, and other topics, and offers a “command center” where users can further customize their information and access more articles without having to configure the service from a separate Web-based session. Go for Mobile 2.0 also ties into photo-sharing via a Flickr widget, and offers an email widget which lets users read, reply, delete, and create email via Yahoo Mail.

“Yahoo intends to be the number one mobile Internet player globally,” said Boerries. “Today we are changing the game by putting the full power of the open Internet into consumers’ pockets.”

And Yahoo has some partnerships to help make that happen. Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 will be pre-loaded on select new mobile devices from Motorola in the first half of 2007, and Yahoo’s international partners include Bharti Airtel, DiGi Telecommunications (Malaysia), Globe Telecom, Hutchison India, Idea Cellular, Rogers Wireless, Smart Communications, Taiwan Mobile, and 3 Group in the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden.