Yahoo Signs Ad Deal with T-Mobile

Established online giant and would-be mobile player, Yahoo, has signed a deal to provide targeted display adverts on T-Mobile's Internet service Web 'n' walk in the UK. Yahoo has been aggressively targeting deals to sell and manage mobile adverts after enduring some tough competition in its main web business where it has lost out to major competitors such as Google. Yahoo has a parallel deal with T-Mobile's rival Vodafone.

Earlier this month, Yahoo outlined plans to construct versions of its mobile services that are compatible with Google's new Android mobile phone platform. Yahoo said it plans to make sure that its services will work on many new platforms, including Android and the new Apple iPhone systems.

Yahoo's mobile chief, Marco Boerries, said that his company plans to adopt a new more open mobile strategy and is ready to demonstrate its commitment to matching its services with those of its rivals. Boerries believes that Yahoo must offer services that work on existing mobile phones and not compete with software that is already available or will be available soon. That way, the mobile chief believes that Yahoo has a much better chance of reaching hundreds of millions of mobile users around the world. 

Over the last two years, Yahoo has struck deals with mobile phone companies and handset manufacturers to place popular Yahoo Web services on many devices across the world.

Under the T-Mobile deal, the two companies plan to work together to enable advertisers to send targeted adverts to consumers who can then respond directly. One of the attractions of mobile advertising for marketing companies is that it enables advertisers to interact with consumers at different and peak times when they are relatively more difficult to reach through other media.