Yahoo and Samsung Sign Global Mobile Services Deal

South Korean electronics giant Samsung and Internet titan Yahoo have inked a new deal that will see Yahoo services preloaded on millions of Samsung handsets as defaults in markets around the world. Signature Yahoo services like Yahoo Mail, Search, and Messenger will be part of the deal, along with Yahoo news and content properties, Flickr, and services like Yahoo Calendar and Contacts. The partnership will extend to Samsung phones running both Android and Samsung’s own bada operating system. Customers should start seeing Yahoo services pop up on Samsung phones in May.

“By making our most popular Yahoo services available on Samsung mobile devices around the world, we’re providing consumers with personally relevant mobile Internet experiences that make it easy for them to stay connected to what’s important to them and explore the full potential of their device,” said Yahoo’s senior VP for Mobile and Local Audience David Ko, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to deepen our relationship with Samsung and look forward to continuing to drive the global adoption of mobile Internet services.”

The deal expands an existing relationship between Samsung and Yahoo: Samsung has been bundling selected Yahoo services on mobile devices since 2007. However, the broad new deal doesn’t necessarily mean all Yahoo mobile services will appear on all Samsung devices: instead, devices “may come pre-loaded” with a selection of Yahoo services, including Mail, Messenger, Contacts and Calendar, Search, Flickr, News, Finance, and Weather.

The deal seems to be the first major third-party content and services arrangement for Samsung’s bada operating system, which hopes to compete with…well, everyone from Android to BlackBerry to Palm to Symbian to MeeGo to Windows Phone 7 to, of course, the iPhone.

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