Sunnyvale, California-based Web media pioneer Yahoo announced Monday that it had signed mobile Internet  search agreements with five telecommunications companies in the Asia Pacific region, bringing to 60 the total number of its similar partnerships worldwide and giving the firm the ability to reach some 600 million mobile subscribers, Yahoo said. Financial terms of the partnerships were not disclosed. Yahoo oneSearch Will Be Preferred Search Service Yahoo oneSearch cell phone software will appear as the default mobile device search application for  subscribers with Vibo Telecom in Taiwan, Hong CSL Limited, Smart Communications and Digital Mobile Philippines (Sun Cellular) in the Philippines and Mahanagar Telephon Nigam (MTNL) in India, Yahoo said in a statement issued Tuesday. Consumers using mobile services from the firms will have Yahoo set as their preferred mobile search provider on wireless devices such as cell phones. Yahoo mobile division director and vice president in Asia David Ko said the agreements would help attract advertisers looking to tap a mobile user base capable of reaching 600 million people and a mobile ad market that has been predicted to see spending climb to $16.2 billion in 2011. "We are now able to reach 600 million subscribers," Ko said during a recent media event. "This creates the scale to make mobile advertising attractive," he added. The mobile oneSearch agreements were part of several new wireless initiatives Yahoo made public Tuesday as part of the company's "next phase" of its mobile strategy in the rapidly-growing Asia Pacific region, Yahoo said. Locale Language And Accent Support Boost Voice Support "Sixty signed Yahoo oneSearch partner deals is a great milestone, putting us on our way to our goal of  ultimately connecting the billions of mobile consumers around the globe with the best possible Internet experience," said Marco Boerries, Yahoo Connected Life executive vice president. "Today's partnerships and product launches further Yahoo!'s global momentum and serve to reinforce our strong position in the mobile industry," Boerries added. Yahoo announced region-specific localized versions of its voice activated search service, called Yahoo Go, in India and in Australia, which will see a version able to recognize that country's English accents, along with Southeast Asia, which will see a local Bahasa language version in Indonesia, Yahoo said. In November 2007 Yahoo launched Yahoo Go to serve Taiwan in traditional Chinese language, and in April it launched oneSearch with voice in the United States. Additional Yahoo mobile advertising agreements were made with Idea Cellular Ltd. in India and Maxis in Malaysia, which will both use mobile ads served and sold by the Sunnyvale company on their mobile Web properties, Yahoo said on the opening day of Singapore's CommunicAsia telecommunications conference. Yahoo's Latest Push In Mobile Search Battle "Working closely with our partners, Yahoo oneSearch is a starting point for mobile consumers across the Asia Pacific region, delivering locally relevant information on their mobile devices," Ko said in Tuesday's statement. "Our mobile strategy to lead and enable the mobile ecosystem is being implemented by focusing on developing mobile-first experiences, like Yahoo oneSearch, and fostering high-quality partnerships to enhance the user's mobile Internet experience," Ko added. The latest Yahoo mobile partnerships, which spanned eight Asia Pacific region countries and territories, sought to solidify Yahoo's already strong mobile device position in the region. The move is Yahoo's latest push in its battle with search leader Google and the world's biggest software maker Microsoft for control of the growing mobile Internet market. Yahoo oneSearch mobile phone users are able to turn on their device and speak a phrase or word to receive search results, Yahoo said. Yahoo Makes Mobile Search Moves In Asia Pacific Region The voice recognition technology Yahoo has incorporated into oneSearch mobile software represented a sizable advance from implementations rival Google had offered since 2002  and Microsoft since 2007, Boerries said in April. OneSearch uses voice-activation software exclusively licensed from two-year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts-based start-up Vlingo Corp. The localized language upgrades Yahoo announced Tuesday will extend the voice searching capabilities of oneSearch, Yahoo said. "Available beginning today for select BlackBerry devices including the 8800 series, Curve, and Pearl, this English language product is capable of understanding, disambiguating and learning accents localized for India and Singapore, allowing consumers to search for anything by simply speaking into their devices," Yahoo said. Yahoo also introduced various new application "widgets" for mobile audience in the Asia Pacific region, such as one from MTV Asia offering music news and popularity charts. Related Links:
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