Could the mobile web become a way for Yahoo to challenge Google’s dominance of the Search Advertising market? Today Yahoo and AT&T announced that Yahoo will become the default search engine on new AT&T handsets.
This deal marks an expansion of the previous relationship between the companies wherein Yahoo has been providing search for AT&T’s broadband and Internet TV consumers. Yahoo created oneSearch as a way for mobile users to easily retrieve web results, news, weather, financial and flickr pictures from one simplified interface.
This news comes just as Google is attempting to shore up a deal with Verizon Wireless to become the default search provider on many of this year’s new models of mobile phones. This shows that both of the top two players in the Search Market are both focused on gaining a competitive edge via the rapid growth of the mobile web.
But how much would this deal really help Yahoo?
Google is already leading Yahoo in terms of market share on the mobile web. Their 61% penetration matches very closely their share of the desktop search market. Yahoo is hovering at 18-20% of the mobile and overall market share respectively.
However, there’s one problem that the Yahoo-AT&T mobile search deal won’t solve for Yahoo. The iPhone’s default search selection is still Google through a deal made directly with Apple. And iPhone users make, on average, 50 times the number of search queries as other mobile web users.
It will be interesting to see how these agreements affect the overall search market share. In addition, it will be telling to see whether the trend toward users having greater control over their handsets changes anything as well.
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