Cellular carriers work to outdo Google, Yahoo Thursday, July 27, 2006 By Amol Sharma The Wall Street Journal
Envisioning a lucrative wireless search and advertising market, U.S. cellphone companies are shying away from deals with Internet giants such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. in favor of partnerships with small start-ups they can more easily control. Google, Yahoo and other Internet companies are targeting wireless search as a major new growth area as cellphone use proliferates globally. They see billions of dollars in potential revenue from selling advertising that is linked to searches for ringtones, games, local listings and mobile Web content. The search giants have had some success overseas, but they have still had difficulty penetrating the large U.S. carriers, which ultimately control access to the nation's nearly 217 million cellular subscribers. Large phone companies, including Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., never really profited from the explosion of search and advertising on the Internet. Now wireless operators like Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless, which are partly owned by those same phone giants, don't want to make the same mistake. ... http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06208/709073-28.stm Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
