As Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo continued its search for a new chief executive while also looking to  dispel speculation that it was in new partnership talks with Microsoft, the pioneering Web company announced late Sunday that it had signed a mobile search agreement with Virgin Mobile that will see Virgin's 4.4 million U.K. customers using Yahoo's oneSearch as the default pre-installed search service on their mobile devices. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. Yahoo Mobile Reach Extended To As Many As 850 Million Globally The Yahoo oneSearch cell phone software, launched in 2007, will become available to subscribers of the U.K.'s biggest mobile network Virgin Mobile on December 8, the two companies said on Monday. The mobile search push was Yahoo's latest effort to gain a stake in the growing mobile Internet market, and follows a string of similar agreements over the past two years to place its oneSearch mobile-specific software on cell phones worldwide. In October 2007 Yahoo signed a mobile search agreement with Madrid-based Telefonica S.A., the Spanish telecommunications group that is one of the largest mobile service providers in the world, and a month later signed deals with nine additional cell phone operators to provide mobile Web search services in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by a December 2007 partnership with Latin America's leading mobile phone company America Movil. In June Yahoo further expanded its Asia Pacific operations with search agreements with five more telecommunications companies. Including the partnership with Virgin Mobile announced Sunday, Yahoo now has 70 similar agreements in place that combine to reach up to a claimed total of 850 million subscribers globally, Yahoo said. Yahoo and Virgin Mobile, a part of Virgin Media, also expect the partnership to deliver mobile portal sponsored search listings by early 2009, the companies said. Yahoo British Reach Jumps From 76 To 80 Percent With Virgin Mobile Partnership The partnership was expected to bring Yahoo an 80 percent share of the British mobile search audience, according to Yahoo citing information from Ralston, Virginia-based Web traffic analysis firm comScore and its M:Metrics property, a share slightly more than the 76 percent Yahoo held before the deal announced Sunday. In addition to its Virgin Mobile partnership, Yahoo has inked similar deals with U.K. firms Orange, T-Mobile and O2. Yahoo's head of mobile operations in Europe Mitch Lazar said the partnership with  Virgin Media made sense within the company's mobile strategy and for consumers. "Together, Virgin Media and Yahoo are enhancing the user's mobile Internet experience in the U.K. while creating unique opportunities for advertisers to reach a highly-engaged audience of mobile consumers," Lazar said in the Sunday announcement. "Working closely with our 70 mobile operator partners, Yahoo oneSearch is a starting point for mobile consumers globally, revolutionizing the mobile search experience by delivering relevant answers to queries that mobile users have while on-the-go," Lazar added. Last month Yahoo reached an expanded agreement with T-Mobile, the network used by Virgin Mobile, that saw oneSearch become the default mobile search partner on T-Mobile smartphones. Yahoo Signs Mobile Search Deal With U.K.'s Virgin Mobile The Yahoo oneSearch product Virgin Mobile subscribers will begin seeing next Monday will be housed within a portal offering such services as news, entertainment, video and music, and was also expected to include "relevant ring tones, wallpapers, games and other content" within the mobile search results, Yahoo said. Virgin Mobile managing director Graeme Oxby said the partnership with Yahoo would help fill a crucial need among mobile consumers. "Our new Virgin Media mobile portal brings the web to consumers' pockets," Oxby said in the Sunday announcement. "A great mobile search service is a crucial part of this and by integrating Yahoo oneSearch into the portal, we are ensuring our customers have all the information they need at their fingertips," added Oxby. In August Yahoo launched an upgraded mobile search experience for users of Apple's popular iPhone, as it looks for growth beyond the Google-dominated non-mobile search environment. Related Links :
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