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The world's biggest cell-phone maker Nokia and the top Internet search engine firm Google chose Barcelona,  Spain's giant World Mobile Congress to jointly announce a partnership adding Google search to Nokia's search application on four new handsets. Google's search engine will become available to Nokia customers alongside those from Yahoo, Microsoft, China's Baidu and Russia's Yandex, all having existing agreements with the Finnish cell-phone maker that allow searches through Nokia's own Nokia Search application. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. Google Choice Rolls Out For Nokia Handsets Nokia vice-president of software and services Ilkka Raiskinen likes the additional choice Google search will give its customers, as the two firms build on previous cooperation in other areas. ""Providing choices for our consumers is an important driver in Nokia's Internet service strategy," Raiskinen said. "This integration allows our consumers the ability to use the innovative search technologies, which have made Google almost synonymous with Internet search," Raiskinen added Tuesday in a joint statement. Google vice-president on engineering for mobile Vic Gundotra pointed out the advantage Nokia customers will have using a search product already familiar to them in non-mobile settings. "Adding Google to Nokia Search provides mobile users with fast, relevant and comprehensive search experience that will be familiar to the people who use Google to search the web from their desktop," Gundotra said. "Google search combined with the high quality applications on Nokia devices help make information available to Nokia device users wherever they are and provide an excellent overall experience," he added. Expanding on Existing Collaborations Certain Internet tablets made by the Finnish mobile phone giant have previously been able to use Google search, however the collaboration announced Tuesday will be the first time the firm's handsets will be able to  do so, beginning with integration on four models announced at this week's World Mobile Congress, the N96, N78, 6210 Navigator and the 6220 classic, in select markets. Nokia expects to make Google search available in further handset models in the future, which could include Nokia's customers in more than 100 countries worldwide. In 2007 Nokia's N95 mobile device became the first in its class to fully support Google's YouTube online video-sharing network. The alliance with Google comes as the search engine giant is gearing up to see cell phones emerging that are based on its Android open-source mobile device development framework, which will compete directly with Nokia products. Some industry analysts see the collaboration as a defensive one on Nokia's part. "This also might be a bit of a defensive move in light of Android-based devices supposedly coming in the second half of 2008," Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner Consulting, told Reuters in a recent article. ""Although Nokia might not adopt the [Android] platform it is making sure they are working with Google and offering consumers what they want," Milanesi added. Nokia's agreement with Yahoo started three years ago, while its collaboration with Microsoft to offer Windows Live Search began in August 2007. Related Links:
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10:06 pm on Feb. 12, 2008 (utc 0)