Yahoo! has inked a deal with Nokia to have its services pre-bundled on Symbian smartphones running the mobile phone giant's Series 60 interface. These include e-mail, Yahoo! entertainment offerings such as ringtones, wallpapers and downloadable games, and Yahoo! Search for Mobile.

The first Nokia devices with Yahoo! are the 6680, 6681 and the 6630. Existing users will be able to download the applications over-the-air during the second half of 2005. Nokia appears ready to bundle Yahoo! with other handsets in the future as well.

Through the agreement, Nokia becomes the Symbian handset vendor to distribute Yahoo! service products in the widest number of international markets. Initial countries include Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Spain and the United Kingdom, among others.

Having its services pre-bundled on the smartphones and perhaps, someday, the mobile phones of the most popular cell phone maker in the world could give Yahoo! a leg up in the wireless portal market. That’s because many consumers don't add software once their device is taken out of the box and connected to a cellular network. If Yahoo! is already there, then nothing needs to be installed.

Although operators like to control everything to do with their network and the devices they support, many of them should be amenable to the Yahoo!/Nokia deal. Yahoo! is a well known and popular online brand that many desktop users turn to for their Internet services. Integrating Yahoo! with the smartphones can only help increase a carrier’s average revenue per user (ARPU) by stimulating the use of data networks.

Nokia VP of strategy & business development declares, "Access to information, entertainment and the ability to stay in touch when and where you want is at the heart of our vision of a mobile connected life. Our agreement with Yahoo! is a progressive step in facilitating the adoption of an online lifestyle: we are providing consumers with a familiar way of accessing the internet and Yahoo! e-mail through their mobile devices, with the added convenience of content downloads on the go."

Because the agreement isn't exclusive, Yahoo! may choose to make similar deals with other handset manufacturers to insinuate its brand further into the mobile world, while Nokia could do the same with other portal and software vendors with similar services to Yahoo!.

As Yahoo! VP & MD Juha Varelius says, "With consumers' lives across the world becoming increasingly centered around mobile communications, this new international relationship between Yahoo! and Nokia is a great way for people to have the Yahoo! internet experience on their Nokia phone and benefit from a range of essential services on the go."