Yahoo and Nokia to Partner On Mobile Phones

Yahoo has announced a special event next Monday in New York City, and according to rumors it will be held in conjunction with Nokia to announce a new partnership. The expected deal will put a variety of Yahoo services like email and search into Nokia phones. The two companies were reportedly looking into a co-branded phone, but that won’t be happening. I can’t say I’d be that eager to see a Yahoo/Nokia take on the Nexus One.

MG Siegler over on TechCrunch criticizes the deal as a backwards-looking partnership with no endurance in its muscles, given that Nokia is still hanging onto a comfortable margin as the world cell phone leader but is falling by the wayside in the smartphone department. As cell users continue to dump feature phones in favor of more advanced models, Nokia (and Yahoo) will be losing ground. We’ll reserve our judgment until we’re certain of the message. See you on Monday. [via TechCrunch]