"Go for Mobile 2.0", Yahoo's latest weapon to beat Google

Yahoo Inc. on Monday introduced a beta version of Yahoo! Go at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, in order to surpass archrival Google Inc., which dominates the market for computer Web search and advertising, in the battle to deliver information and online services to mobile phones.

To meet the purpose, Yahoo announced a slew of new or expanded partnerships with handset makers, including Motorola Inc., Nokia, Samsung Electronics Co., and Research In Motion Ltd. Currently, the new version of Go, called Go for Mobile 2.0, will be available on two models of Motorola’s popular RAZR phones, Yahoo said during a keynote speech at the CES.

Sunnyvale, California based Yahoo’s launch of Go 2.0 came just after the Internet search giant, Google announced a partnership to put its own mobile software on Samsung cell phones. Samsung, the world's No. 3 mobile phone maker agreed to preload and distribute Google’s cell phone search, e-mail and map products on its phones.

Yahoo’s latest software will let users find information like weather, news, stock quotes and sports scores more quickly on their mobile phones. Its unique carousel design enables consumers to easily navigate the selection of Yahoo! Go widgets for e-mail, local information and maps, entertainment, photo sharing and search.

“Yahoo! intends to be the number one mobile Internet player globally,” said Marco Boerries, Yahoo’s Connected Life SVP, in a statement. “Yahoo! Go 2.0 creates an entirely new and beautiful experience that fits great phones, like the new MOTORAZR maxx V6 or V3xx devices."

The new service is also equipped with Yahoo! oneSearch, a completely new mobile search service designed to give phone users instant answers.

Go 2.0, designed to simplify browsing the web on cell phones, will also come pre-loaded on phones from Samsung, RIM, and Nokia. Yahoo has also entered into partnerships with 3 Group, which operates in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark, and expected to form alliance with eight other carriers, including Bharti Airtel, DiGi Telecommunications (Malaysia), Globe Telecom, Hutchison India, Idea Cellular, Rogers Wireless, Smart Communications, Taiwan Mobile that cover Canada, India and Asia.

While the service is readily available for the MOTORAZR maxx V6 and MOTORAZR V3xx, more than 70 Other Mobile Devices would get the software through major mobile operators worldwide in the first half of 2007.

Yahoo Go is expected to be on some 400 telephone models by the end of the year.

Shares of Yahoo surged by 18 cents to close at $27.92 on NASDAQ.

While both Google and Yahoo are intensifying their efforts to provide the web search on Mobile’s small screen, Yahoo especially needs more intense efforts to become the leader in Mobile search, a platform widely viewed as the next big battleground for the longtime rivals.

The Yahoo! Go 2.0 beta can be downloaded from website http://go.yahoo.com.