AT&T (NYSE:T) has finally embraced Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, but not entirely. When it launches its first Android phone, the Motorola (NYSE:MOT) Backflip on Sunday, the default search engine will be supplied by Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO). It’s a big win for Yahoo, but it raises the question, will it become the norm for AT&T? If so, what does it mean for other wireless operators that have search agreements in place?
Android is open-source, so AT&T was free to use any search engine it liked, but the move is surprising nonetheless. Yahoo trails far behind Google in mobile search with even the iPhone using Google as its default search engine. According to the Nielsen Company, Google Search was accessed more than any other mobile Web site between January and September of last year.
An AT&T spokesman wouldn’t divulge the specifics of its arrangement with Yahoo, but pointed out that users are afforded access to Google search if they so choose. The Backflip is preloaded with Google apps, including Gmail, Maps, Talk, YouTube and the Android Market. AT&T is also asserting itself with a number of its own apps and services, including AllSport GPS, AT&T Maps, Music and Navigator, preloaded as well.
This isn’t the first time Yahoo has gotten the nod over Google. Back in 2008, Google-ally T-Mobile choose to use Yahoo for its oneSearch customizable home page and shopping store, web2go on all its mobile phones; however, even it did not replace Google as the default search engine. T-Mobile was Google’s first Android partner with the G1 smartphone, but it also has an exclusive agreement in place with Yahoo.
T-Mobile hasn’t gone the Yahoo route with its subsequent Android-based phones either, but it could potentially have to if Yahoo, its exclusive partner, calls the shots. The same could true for AT&T, which wouldn’t confirm if its decision to use Yahoo will be applied across the five Android handsets it promised to launch this year too.
Verizon Wireless is another carrier tied up in an exclusive search agreement with third-place search contender Microsoft Bing. According to the terms of the agreement, Microsoft has the exclusive right to manage mobile search and advertising for VZW’s mobile phones. Bing is installed in several of VZW’s BlackBerry devices, but its Android-based Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris both default to Google. Especially when Microsoft launches its first Windows 7 Phone later this year, it might not be as willing to be passed over for Google (or Yahoo) – by VZW or any tier-one carrier.
It will be interesting to see how things shake out for mobile search and who ultimately holds the power to dictate what search bar goes front and center.
Ultimately, that power on an open source platform is in the consumer\’s hands. It\’s still a nice win for Yahoo, though — the consumer will exercise the power he has only when he is dissatisfied; that is, his default position is to do nothing. As long as he finds the default search (Yahoo) acceptable, he won\’t switch over to Google.
This of course opens the floor for the question, \"how many users will be dissatisfied with Yahoo search and switch?\" That\’s a bit beyond my ability to predict with any accuracy, I feel.