Virgin Mobile and Yahoo! Have announced a new partnership to make several of Yahoo!'s popular mobile services available to the mobile operator's customers. According to the agreement, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger will become available through the mobile operator's Email and IM offerings starting April this year. All of the applications will be available for download on several handsets including the Switch Black and Cyclops and will be preloaded on selected future mobile phones.

"In expanding the messaging features for our customers, it is critical to include access to these tremendously valuable applications from Yahoo!," said Dominick Tolli, vice president, mobile data services for Virgin Mobile USA. "Our customers take advantage of a variety of ways to communicate with friends and family from their cell phones and the Yahoo! option will make that easier and more efficient." New cross-messaging pricing plans will be launched on Virgin Mobile in April and will include Yahoo messaging options as part of the package.

Moreover, the companies are also planning to make additional services from Yahoo! Available on the operator's handsets in the following months, including a range of SMS services such as search and messaging. The leading global Internet company has signed several agreements with companies in the last period of time, with several devices from manufacturers including LG or Samsung expected to be released pre-loaded with Yahoo! Services and apps throughout this year.

"Yahoo! is excited to partner with Virgin Mobile to bring our innovative services to consumers' fingertips," said Bruce Stewart, vice president, business development, Yahoo!. "By bringing our powerful and fun services to the mobile phone, we can give Virgin Mobile customers the great mobile Internet experience they want."