Nokia, Yahoo team up for more mobile ad revenue

Nokia Oyj and Yahoo! Inc have agreed to collaborate on mapping, e-mail and instant messaging services to spur revenue from mobile advertising.

The companies said they will present products displaying both brands in the second half of the year. Nokia will offer Yahoo's e-mail services and provide the Sunnyvale, California-based company with maps and navigation. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, is seeking partnerships to attract customers. The Espoo, Finland-based company has shuffled executives and operations after losing ground to Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry. Yahoo, owner of the second-most widely used internet search engine, is creating programmes for wireless devices to sell more advertising.

"We are clearly the leader in our industry, but we do not lead in the biggest market in the world, the US," Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's Chief Executive Officer, said at a news conference in New York yesterday. "This is one step we are taking to change that."

Yahoo is the No 1 e-mail provider in the US and No 2 worldwide, trailing Microsoft's Hotmail, according to ComScore Inc, a Reston, Virginia-based researcher.

Yahoo rose seven cents to $15.54 (Dh57.07) at 4 pm in New York on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Nokia's American depository receipts, each representing one ordinary share, fell five cents to $10.02.

The agreement may help Yahoo buoy its market share in mapping, where it lost ground to Google. "We're laser-focused on the areas that are core to our business, but will partner with others when we need to add strength to our services," Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said yesterday at the news conference. The partnership will provide opportunity for growth globally.

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