Yahoo's Mobile Moves

And that, Yahoo says, is where the real money is:

Unlike Google, which said on Monday it was building a mobile phone operating system, Yahoo is focusing on mobile advertising deals and has no intention of getting into software design of phones like its Silicon Valley rival.

The race is going to be who builds the biggest arsenal of partners and numbers of page views, said -Marco- Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoos Connected Life division. . . .

Google risks being distracted by technology rather than being focused on advertising revenue, the lifeblood of both Internet players, Boerries said.

Boerries argues that Android is not only distracting Google from where the mobile money really is, but also going to delay their chances of making headway on the mobile front, unlike Yahoos current mobile strategy, already in progress:

The first phones based on Googles mobile software, dubbed Android, are not due to appear until the second half of 2008. Google signed 33 initial partners, with Deutsche Telekoms T-Mobile network operator and Taiwanese handset maker High Tech Computer Corp so far the only ones committed to offering some phones next year.

Yahoo already has deals to feature a package of services like search, e-mail and mapping on limited handsets from major phone makers, including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and HTC " every top name except Sony Ericsson.

Finally, Boerries makes two more valid points about Googles competitive strategy in the mobile arena:

Whatever money Google is going to make on advertising it is likely to pay in subsidies to the carriers, he predicts. . . .

If Android is truly open source, we can take everything out there, Boerries said of the outside possibility Yahoo might use Google phone software and run Yahoo services over the devices. Nothing prevents me from taking it, he said.

Way to really capture the spirit of Open Source, Yahoo"taking your competitors code to drive them into the ground.

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