Today we are excited to announce a worldwide strategic alliance between Yahoo! and Nokia to extend the reach of our industry leading online services and offer people rich experiences that keep them connected to their world and the world around them.

Building on more than five years of collaboration, Nokia and Yahoo! will leverage each others’ strengths in e-mail, instant messaging and maps and navigation services, to provide consumers with access to world-class experiences on both PC and mobile devices.

As part of the alliance:

• Nokia will be the exclusive, global provider of Yahoo!’s maps and navigation services, integrating Ovi Maps across Yahoo! properties, branded as “powered by Ovi.”
• Yahoo! will become the exclusive, global provider of Nokia’s Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat services branded as “Ovi Mail / Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo!”
• Nokia and Yahoo! plan to work on ID federation between their services, beginning by making it easy for people to use their Ovi user IDs across select Yahoo! properties to easily access  the online content and services they need.

Together, Yahoo! and Nokia will continue to deliver compelling Internet experiences that address the core needs of consumers, developers, operators and advertisers. The companies will utilize their respective global distribution advantages and brand recognition across consumer audiences.

Select, co-branded service offerings are expected to become available from the second half of 2010, with global availability expected in 2011.

Nokia is the world’s largest mobile device manufacturer, with hundreds of millions of devices sold each year and a leader in digital mapping, with continuing investment and innovation focused on developing comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, now covering 77 countries in 46 languages. With more than 600 million users of Yahoo!-branded sites per month, Yahoo! is a global Internet powerhouse, a one-stop Web destination enabling consumers to enjoy their online life anywhere and everywhere — all customized for their interests. As one of the leading Internet brands, Yahoo! is focused on growing its audience by providing seamless Web experiences across PC and mobile devices.

• Everything in one place: Imagine being able to link practically any kind of Web content to your phone (think news feeds, web sites, videos, images, emails, search queries). Yahoo! onePlace works like a smart mobile bookmarking tool and brings all your favorite content in one place with one click. You organize it how you want it and it dynamically updates itself (like flight status). It’s also designed to link to your personalized content on the Yahoo! network (My Yahoo!, Flickr, del.icio.us) and other sites too (like Yelp and Digg). One caveat: it’s coming out in Q2 2008. So keep those fingers ready!
• Test-drive worthy: Yahoo! Maps just got juiced up with new neighborhood data, expanded worldwide coverage (especially throughout Eastern Europe), and some new stylistic improvements like lighter map tiles and hybrid road colors. The coolest part is the new lower zoom levels and view into 12,000 new neighborhoods like the “Lower East Side” in New York. We’ve even added new “points of interest” info like schools, rest areas, and ski resorts. There’s more to come, so stay tuned and read more here.
• All things digital: If you’re addicted to Kara Swisher’s daily “BoomTown” chatter, we’ve got the perfect addition to your My Yahoo! page. The new “All Things Digital” module lets you stay on top of the Valley tidbits with the latest tech commentary and analysis from Kara, Walt Mossberg, and John Paczkowski. Add it here.
• The eagle has landed: Well, for developers that is. For Web, mobile, and desktop developers that haven’t yet gotten wind of the news, Fire Eagle (our new open location-based platform) has beta launched so you can build cool applications that hone in on a user’s location. How does it work? Users share their location (in a secure and safe way) so that you can create cool ways for them to discover the world around them. It’s invite-only, so make sure to ask for an invitation and keep tabs on the team’s updates.

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