Yahoo and Google talk mobile

February 12, 2007
by Latitude

Vodafone has announced that it will be making Google Maps accessible to its customers, fresh off of announced deals to add MySpace and YouTube to its Vodafone Live service (which is truly a walled garden, as the Register notes).

Use of Google Maps will come under users’ usual data tarriff. On some handsets, which Vodafone said it would identify later, real time location information will be provided based on which network cell the user is in, like a less specific GPS.

Yahoo, meanwhile, has announced a new release of its mobile suite of applications, as well as a new mobile ad platform that will run in 19 countries. From NMA:

The platform features interactive ads running near the top of the Yahoo! Mobile Web home page, with users being able to click on the ads for more information.

The [mobile suite] includes a new search service that recognises the intent of a search and presents relevant content as well as web links; a Local & Maps widget that gives consumers access to local directories; a breaking news ticker for news, sports, entertainment, weather and finance, with the ability to customise the service to receive RSS feeds; a Flickr interface allowing the upload of photos from camera phones and email services. The new version will also carry display advertising that will run in several of the widgets at the top of the page.

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