Yahoo! steals another win from white label mobile search providers in Germany

by: Bena Roberts Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

I reported a few months ago that Yahoo! had teamed up with German player simyo for oneSearch.

But I also knew that three other very small white label providers were trialling services for simyo. But Yahoo! has just announced that it has extended its relationship with simyo and oneSearch will now also become the exclusive search function on the new simyo mobile portal.

So all clients that use Yahoo! Go 2.0 will now also get oneSearch as standard via the mobile portal.
What we think?
I am sure that this must be some sort of free collaboration that helps Yahoo! get into the German market. Simyo is a very low cost discounter and part of the E-Plus Group. I doubt that it could afford to pay Yahoo! for integration and exclusivity.

Yahoo! aims to be the display ad leader globally and no doubt is offering revenue share based deals such as these with Simyo to step stone itself into a stronger advertising lead position. KPN parent of E-Plus and simyo would be a catch for Yahoo! if this collaboration with simyo got extended.

But personally I would have thought that the simyo brand was essential for the company and a white label search would have been more relevant to consumers that have chosen a low cost brand over a brand name such as Vodafone or T-Mobile.

But that being said, its all about price for the operator and the player with the lowest common price is the winner.