Yahoo and Motorola to 'put the Internet in your pocket'

Yahoo and Motorola announced they have teamed up to "put the Internet in your pocket," as the battle between rival search engines went mobile at the world's largest electronics show in Las Vegas.

Yahoo Connected Life vice president Marco Boerries joined Motorola president Ed Zander to unveil mobile telephones that "bring the Internet to your phone, not the other way around," on the stage of a casino ballroom here.

A beta version of the Yahoo Go 2.0 software could be downloaded as of Monday from the Sunnyvale, California, company's website for compatible mobile telephones already on the market, Boerries said.

Boerries expected over 400 mobile telephone models to be compatible with Yahoo Go by the end of the year. Among the hardware makers working with Yahoo were
Nokia, Samsung and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, Boerries said.

Zander showed off new Motorola mobile telephones that will have the software built in and a one-click access design for easily connecting to the Internet.

"I've been using it," Zander told reporters at the press conference. "I'm a convert."

Yahoo has formed alliances with mobile telephone service carriers around the world to use the "oneSearch" services to make using the Internet on the move as easy as working from a desktop computer, Boerries said.

The oneSearch program, which is included in Yahoo Go, will be made available by Yahoo later this month in a format that will work with any Internet-capable mobile telephone, said Yahoo product strategy director Lee Ott.

"Yahoo oneSearch changes the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers' access and use the Internet on their mobile phones," Boerries said.

The devices are designed to detect users' locations and provide local information ranging from weather reports to business and events listings along with other search results.

Users could also share videos or photos as they normally would on social networking websites, according to Boerries.

"It is truly the Internet in your pocket," Boerries said. "For the first time, the Internet now fits your phone. For the past 10 years the Internet has been squished onto the phone."

Winning mobile Internet devotees is among Yahoo's top three priorities this year, Boerries said.

"We see it as the next major Internet battle," Ott said. "We think we are positioned to win."

Search titan Google and South Korean electronics giant Samsung also used the Consumer Electronics Show to announce a similar alliance on Monday.

Samsung mobile telephones equipped with Google software applications will enable users worldwide to search the Internet, check e-mail, and map routes, according to the companies.

The mobile telephones will be designed with a Google icon on the option menu to allow a single click connection to Google search, G-mail, and maps, the Mountain View, California, search colossus said.

Samsung has already launched the Ultra Edition 13.8, a combined camera mobile telephone with Google mobile search and G-mail.

Samsung's alliance with Google represents a commitment to "a ubiquitous world where mobile enables our consumers to access information about anything, anywhere, anytime," the president of Samsung's Telecommunication Network Business, Kitae Lee, said in a statement.