Nokia and Yahoo announce 'worldwide strategic alliance' on email, IM, maps, and more

Carol Bartz and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEOs of Yahoo! and Nokia, respectively, are on stage right now announcing a "strategic relationship" between the two companies on some of their core services. Nokia will be using Yahoo to power its Ovi email and IM services, while Yahoo will be using Nokia / NAVTEQ's competencies for its mapping and navigation services. Both companies see it as a way to grow their respective userbases, with Yahoo hoping to grab onto the 9 million Ovi users out there, while Nokia hopes that Yahoo could provide it a bit of a USA mojo. Interestingly, Olli-Pekka confronted the US problem head on: "We are an unusual global company in the sense that we are clearly a global leader in our industry, and yet we do not lead in the US." Carol was similarly forthcoming, saying that Yahoo had "lost its focus on maps a couple years ago," then correcting herself, saying that they "chose to focus on other areas." The first merged services should launch in the second half of this year.

During Q&A the big answer to everything seemed to be "scale," but we also heard Carol toss in "downstream" at an opportune moment. When asked how this relates to Android, iPhone and so forth, Carol clarified that this doesn't change anything they're doing on those fronts. "It's not exclusive from that point." Each service will be branded as "powered by Yahoo" or "powered by Ovi." Yahoo will be announcing some "social-like" services for its mail and IM soon, but it's unclear if that's specifically related to this announcement. Neither company is talking financial specifics, but Olli-Pekka did make it very clear that a Yahoo-branded device wasn't forthcoming.

[Mike Vick Posted May 24th 2010 11:17AM]

I use yahoo mail and gmail... gmail for everything, yahoo mail for personal emails.. I love yahoo mail and most people (particularly asians, blacks, africans & latinos use it).. i dont know why people here hate it!!! Nokia is the shizzzznit!!!!!

[weeman Posted May 24th 2010 11:21AM]

Yahoo Phone anyone!!

[JFH Posted May 24th 2010 11:43AM]

@weeman

Read the article, no yahoo phone.

[tytania8 Posted May 24th 2010 11:31AM]

2 sinking ships doesnt make a floating boat..

[spartandre217 Posted May 24th 2010 11:52AM]

@tytania8
Kinda depend on how you rig them and whether you cut off the unnecessary parts. We can, in our infinite wisdom, make pieces of iron which sink when left by themselves float by shaping them properly. Don't be so myopic and dismissive :-P

[Marko Posted May 24th 2010 12:01PM]

yes, they share the same past and the present: they were previously mighty, but have now fallen! (:

[Hydra Posted May 24th 2010 12:41PM]

Yahoo and Nokia? Ok thats the final nail in nokias coffin. Everyone hates yahoo, its just bloatware , and full of spam. have you used yahoo IM lately on a desktop? No really, download the latest one and watch how much spam you get , its everywhere

[ounkeo Posted May 24th 2010 1:25PM]

How small your world view must be to even say that. Yahoo and Nokia may not be doing well in the US, but they are doing well in other markets; especially Nokia.

[ounkeo Posted May 24th 2010 1:26PM]

@ounkeo

Engadget, something wrong with your commenting system. It's not replaying to people.

[popsd23 Posted May 24th 2010 1:51PM]

@ounkeo
Here too- can't reply

[Bahumbug Posted May 24th 2010 3:18PM]

What does nokia hope to achieve ny attaching themselved to a loser (image) such as yahoo?

[soren121 Posted May 24th 2010 4:14PM]

YaPhoone!

[FlyersPh9 Posted May 24th 2010 5:43PM]

Good, because I hate Yahoo! and I hate Nokia. :-) I'd rather these two get in bed rather then fiddle around with companies I actually care for...

[jcar302 Posted May 24th 2010 11:20PM]

All i care about is that yahoo will fix Ovi maps point of interest setup.
It's terrible. Love the nav setup, it's just too bad even when ovi maps goes online to search, it doesn't find basic places.

For god sake, when you google map it, they not only find everything in existence they even give you a picture of it.