14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo! and Telefónica España announced today that Yahoo! was the provider of mobile search services for the carriers emocion portal. The new partnership builds on the agreement between Yahoo! and O2 Germany, announced back in November 2009, and also on the agreement unveiled in October 2007 for the provision of search services from Yahoo! on Telefonica's mobile portals in 15 European and Latin American countries.
Elisa Caballero, developments of value for residential customers general manager of Telefónica España, commented on the new partnership, “Our emocion portal brings the Web to consumers' pockets. A great mobile search service is a crucial part of that experience; by integrating Yahoo!’s mobile search experience, we are ensuring our customers have all the information they need at their fingertips.”
According to the two companies, the Yahoo! mobile search service will offer Telefónica’s consumers in Spain access to relevant information on various topics, including news, financial information, weather conditions, and more. At the same time, the results will be integrated with information from Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers, and will also include relevant ringtones, wallpapers, games and other content results.
Yahoo!’s mobile search service will deliver the exact info users want, the search provider notes, offering some examples on the matter: - When you search for a sports team, Yahoo! shows the latest scores, team profiles, news, images, and a link to the team's website. - If you search for a film, Yahoo! returns show times at local cinemas, critic reviews, news articles, and other relevant information on the cast.
“This is an important milestone as we extend our relationship with Telefónica and offer consumers across Spain with an engaging mobile search experience that enables them to discover their world and the world around them,” said Rich Riley, senior vice president, Yahoo! Europe. “Together, Telefónica and Yahoo! are enhancing the mobile Internet experience for consumers, while creating scale for advertisers, enabling them to reach the rapidly growing audience of mobile consumers.”
Telefónica España and Yahoo! also revealed that they planned on including sponsored search listings with the carrier's portal. The two companies will work on the creation of a monetization engine for the web of mobile phones, and Yahoo! is set to offer advertisers a way to reach their target audiences for a greater impact.