NEW YORK — Nokia and Yahoo agreed to collaborate on mapping, e-mail and instant-messaging services to spur revenue from mobile advertising.
The companies said they will present products displaying both brands in the second half of 2010. Nokia will offer Yahoo’s e-mail services and provide the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company with maps and navigation. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, is seeking partnerships to attract customers. The Espoo, Finland-based company has shuffled executives and operations after losing ground to Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. Yahoo, owner of the second-most widely used Internet search engine, is creating programs for wireless devices to sell more advertising.
“We are clearly the leader in our industry, but we do not lead in the biggest market in the world, the U.S.,” Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s chief executive, said at a news conference Monday. “This is one step we are taking to change that.”
Yahoo is the No. 1 e-mail provider in the U.S. and No. 2 worldwide, trailing Microsoft’s Hotmail, according to ComScore, a Reston, Va.-based researcher.
The agreement may help Yahoo buoy its market share in mapping, where it lost ground to Google.
“We’re laser-focused on the areas that are core to our business, but will partner with others when we need to add strength to our services,” Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz said.
The partnership will provide opportunity for growth globally, especially in the developing world, where people access the Internet via telephones, Bartz said.
Yahoo-Nokia combo
The deal: Mobile-phone maker Nokia will run mapping and navigation services for Yahoo, while the Internet company will provide e-mail and instant- messaging services on Nokia phones.
Impact: Yahoo has been focusing on ads and messaging, and turning to partners to run other offerings. Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz says location is becoming increasingly important on PCs as well as mobile devices, as people want to know where they are, where their friends are and what is around. And location-based ads are a potentially lucrative market.
