042706: New Yahoo! Philippine portal eyes Filipino mobile users

This story was taken from www.inq7.net

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http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=73819

 

First posted 08:54pm (Mla time) April 27, 2006
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net

AIMING to provide more local content and services to Filipinos, Yahoo! Southeast Asia has unveiled its mobile phone service called Yahoo! Go that intends to ride on the popularity of mobile phones and text messaging in the country. One of the key services provided through Yahoo! Go includes a "free" service for syncing of mobile phone contacts with Yahoo! Go and for sending photos from mobile phones directly to a Yahoo! Go Photos account, according to Larry Jordan, director of product management of Yahoo! Southeast Asia. "It is Yahoo! on your mobile device," added Jordan, noting that the service is free for Yahoo! users but it is still subject to fees charged by Philippine network operators. Reza Behnam, managing director of Yahoo! Southeast Asia, said that Yahoo! Go Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, the first countries in Asia Pacific to have the mobile phone service. It will soon be launched in Indonesia, the executive added. "Our mission is to provide the most relevant service. Initially, we’re focused on providing the most relevant information. Later, we’re going to look into ways to monetize traffic," added Behnam. Yahoo! sees the Philippine market as one of the biggest communities in the region in using its communities and messaging services. "Filipinos like the community-like services. But apart from focusing on providing services to them, we’re also looking at the mobile services," Behnam added. Yahoo! Go allows users to access the portal’s services, such as e-mail, messaging, address book and calendar applications. The portal said it has partnered with Nokia to enable users in the Southeast region to take advantage of this application. Nokia users can download the Yahoo! Go application from http://asia.go.yahoo.com, Yahoo! Southeast Asia executives said. Behnam said that 60 percent of 60 million Internet users in Southeast Asia now use Yahoo! services. It has been launching regional portals, with the Philippine portal unveiled on March 22. "Every market is unique. So we intend to offer locally-relevant content and services. For the Philippines, it is the mobile services," the Yahoo! Southeast Asia executive added. Asked if Yahoo! Southeast Asia intends to open an office soon, Behnam said this plan is being considered. "We need to have people on the ground to know what this market wants," he said, adding that local research is currently being conducted to study the Philippine market.