Yahoo! and Samsung deal on Android and bada doesn’t really amount to much

Yahoo! and Samsung have been working together since 2007 – you can access Yahoo! web services on some Samsung devices. Today the two companies have announced an extended partnership that should see Yahoo! services being embedded on Samsung devices all around the world.

What’s the story?

Samsung is one of many mobile OEMs that is releasing Android devices this year, as well as creating its own propietary OS called bada. This announcement declares that both of these mobile platforms will see Yahoo! web services embedded on them as Samsung releases the devices. The plan is to start rolling Yahoo! services including Mail, Messenger, Search, Flicker and Contacts out from May this year.

David Ko, senior vice president, Audience, Mobile and Local for Yahoo! says “by making our most popular Yahoo! services available on Samsung mobile devices around the world, we’re providing consumers with personally relevant mobile Internet experiences that make it easy for them to stay connected to what’s important to them and explore the full potential of their device. We’re thrilled to deepen our relationship with Samsung and look forward to continuing to drive the global adoption of mobile Internet services.”

Kenny Lee, vice president of content planning at Samsung says “we want to provide our customers with the best possible services designed to enhance their mobile experience. Our relationship with Yahoo! continues to grow and benefit our global consumer base, who wants access popular Yahoo! services from their Samsung phone.”

What we think?

While this is being touted as a deal that will see Yahoo! branded services on Samsung devices out-of-the-box, the actual release contains next to no practical or useful information. Far from declaring that Samsung phones will be oozing with Yahoo! all over the world, the release only goes as far as saying that “Samsung phones MAY come pre-loaded with one or more Yahoo! branded services”. Wow, crazy.

The impression that the release gives is that if you buy a new phone from Samsung any time after this May, it will have a tonne of Yahoo! services included right there on the desktop. And maybe that’s true… but the actual promise of the release amounts to very little.