Google has gained another mobile phone handset partnership,
this time with LG. As of the second quarter of this year, selected LG
handsets shipped throughout the world will be preloaded with mobile versions of
Google software, including Google Maps, Gmail and Blogger. Yahoo
signed a similar
deal with LG in February. It’ll be interesting to see if both companies will now
have preinstalled apps on the same phones. As John Battelle
notes, we’re in a new
round of handset distribution wars. To help, I’ll summarize who is where in a
chart below.
Beyond LG, Google
announced
a bundling deal with Samsung back in January. It also has deals with various
carriers, such as a
recent one for location mapping with Vodafone in the UK.
Yahoo, as well as Microsoft, also both have deals with carriers, such as
Yahoo’s
recent deal with 3 Group. In addition, Yahoo has a Samsung handset
partnership in addition to several others. That leads us to chart time!
Below are handset deals cut by Google and Yahoo that I know of. Not all deals
will be the same — some might provide a great range of apps or integration than
others. Apple’s iPhone will have search from both Google and Yahoo, for example,
but Google Maps will also be supported while Yahoo Maps won’t. Deals show
announce dates in mm/dd/yy format.
Rankings show the percentage of worldwide
market each handset maker is estimated to have as of the fourth quarter of last
year
by In-Stat. [Postscript: Google Operating System posted actual share
figures for the makers
over here, which come from another ratings company, Strategy Analytics,
here. I’ve added those percentages alongside the In-Stat rankings. ITFacts
also has a nice roundup
page of other mobile share stats]
| Handset Maker | Yahoo | |
| Nokia (ranked 1; 35%) |
4/26/05, extended 1/8/07 |
none |
| Motorola (ranked 2; 21%) |
7/26/05, extended 1/8/07 |
1/6/06 |
| Samsung (ranked 3; 12%) |
1/8/07 |
1/8/07 |
| Sony Ericsson (ranked 4, 7%) |
none | 2/28/06 |
| LG (ranked 5, 6%) |
2/12/07 |
3/28/07 |
| RIM/BlackBerry (no ranking given) |
3/14/05, extended 1/8/07 |
none |
| HTC (no ranking given) |
3/7/07 |
none |
| BenQ (no ranking given) |
none | 3/8/2006 (release gone, so maybe deal died?) |
| Apple (not yet released) |
1/9/07 |
1/9/07 |
I know Microsoft has deals. I’ll see about adding these later. The most
significant is probably that Microsoft makes the operating system for a growing
number of smartphones (I’m a
long-time user of these Microsoft-powered phones).
Note that even without deals, software may be available for phones. Google
has no formal deal with BlackBerry-maker RIM, but anyone can download
Google Talk For BlackBerry
and use it on their phones. The deals simply get software preinstalled, which
naturally increases the chance it gets used.
We’ve also had rumors that Google wants to build its own phone. After one
executive confirmed
there was some work on this recently, Google went into major PR spin mode to get
back to the message it
previously had been broadcasting, that it wants to put software on phones
made by others, not build phones itself. No surprise about that spin. If you’re
trying to cut deals with phone makers, you don’t want them worried you’ll
compete.
Remember that despite handset deals, carriers might do what they want. For
example, Yahoo just struck a
deal with Virgin Mobile. Virgin doesn’t make its own handsets. These are
made by others — but since Virgin is ordering the handsets, it can insist that
they have whatever apps Virgin wants.
Finally, LG Handsets, of course, are the official maker of phones used by Google
search quality czar Matt Cutts. Matt talked recently about
wanting
to exchange his existing LG phone for a new one back in September. I don’t think
he ever did a follow-up, but yes, he ultimately went with the LG V that he was
considering.