(20 June 2007 8:48 pm)

BANGALORE: Yahoo! has signed a deal with Idea Cellular (ICL) in India, in a new partnership that will focus on distribution of Yahoo! mobile search service. Yahoo! oneSearch was launched in Asia in May this year.

The distribution of Yahoo! oneSearch by ICL makes it easier for people to search for and find results on their mobile devices. It will provide consumers access to news, web images, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr™ and other web sites, as well as make it easy to navigate to other web sites.

For example, if one wants to look for the latest information on a city, they just need to type it into the search box to receive relevant results based on their search queries such as weather, Flickr photos, web images, latest news articles and more.

“Yahoo! oneSearch provides Idea with a competitive advantage by offering a reliable and easy-to-use mobile search offer to consumers in India,” said ICL chief marketing officer Pradeep Shrivastava.

“Our subscribers are increasingly looking for the quickest way to access services on the open internet and the mobile device has now become a tool to get instant answers,” he added.

According to an official release, the strategic partnership with Idea demonstrates Yahoo!’s commitment to become number one in mobile services and establishes a strong early leadership position in mobile audience reach, mobile search services and mobile monetization.

“Our partnership with Idea Cellular is helping to extend Yahoo!’s clear leadership in search for mobile users in India,” said Yahoo! president and general manager, Connected Life Asia, David Ko. He added, “Yahoo! is committed to innovation that provides value to operators and consumers and our mobile partnership strategy will continue to evolve and add value to our respective customers.”

Yahoo! oneSearch is now available in 14 countries including India. Yahoo! oneSearch first launched in the United States in January 2007.