14 DAY TRIAL // The ongoing struggle for supremacy between Sunnyvale Yahoo and Mountain View Google is currently at its bloodiest peak. The weapons are the press releases out there and they look like mass murdering nuke heads at the rate they are delivered. The killing fields are all the media involved and at the point in which we are right now, technologically this looks like it's going to be a war waged on for years.
Nuke number one: yesterday Google released its Android SDK. Nuke number two: one day later, Yahoo comes out with a humongous list of mobile partners and carriers and with the promise of business development for Go, its mobile application and OneSearch that will provide mobile search for the operators, with monetization and revenue sharing as well.
The new carriers announced today include: Aircel Limited (India), BPL Mobile (India), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (India), DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Malaysia), PT EXCELCOMINDO PRATAMA Tbk. (Indonesia), PT Hutchison CP Telecom (Hutch 3; Indonesia), PT Indosat, Tbk (Indonesia), PCCW Mobile HK Limited (Hong Kong) and Starhub Ltd (Singapore). Yahoo previously announced relationships with Globe Telecom Inc. (Philippines), Idea Cellular Limited (India), LG Telecom (Korea), Maxis Communications Berhad (Malaysia), PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel; Indonesia), SmarTone -Vodafone (Hong Kong) and Taiwan Mobile Co (Taiwan).
"When it comes to creating value for our partners and fostering meaningful and lasting relationships, we are successful because we have developed rich experiences that are tailored to the needs of individual partners and their consumers," said Steve Boom, senior vice president, Mobile and Broadband Connected Life, Yahoo!. "We are in constant conversations with partners about ways to deliver even more compelling mobile experiences to consumers. More than 80 mobile operators and device manufacturers in 40 countries are looking to Yahoo! to help them deliver great mobile experiences to their customers and develop new revenue opportunities."
A long list, a dizzying slew of press releases and a tweak to attract the largest Asian population to its side: the promise of an upcoming release of the Go application in Chinese. Enough to win it?