Yahoo and Nokia confirm maps and email partnership

Yahoo and Nokia have confirmed a web services agreement that will span PCs and mobile phones.

The partnership will see Nokia providing Yahoo users with its Ovi Maps technology in return for Yahoo providing Nokia users with email and chat functionality.

The map PC services will be branded as 'Powered by Ovi', and the mobile email and chat services will be branded as 'Ovi Mail/Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo'.

Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz and Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo made the announcement during a press conference this afternoon, following leaked reports of the alliance on Friday.

The executives explained that Yahoo and Nokia will work on ID federation between the services to allow people to use their Ovi user IDs across all of Yahoo's properties.

Reports on Friday suggested that the alliance will be called Project Nike, but Yahoo has now said that the partnership "does not have a name".

Bartz also discussed the continuing need for Yahoo to partner with other companies to ensure that its users have access to the latest technology.

This has been a consistent Bartz strategy since she joined Yahoo, when she said that the firm would particularly look to partner with social networks and mobile operators rather than build such services from scratch.

Kallasvuo, meanwhile, claimed that the new email capabilities available to Nokia users will particularly help those in developing countries "whose only connection to the world is through their mobile phones".

He also said that the alliance will allow developers to build on the new joint mail, messenger and maps platforms.

A partnership with Nokia will give Yahoo a stronger hand to compete with its major search rival, Google, whose Android operating system is used to power an ever growing number of mobile devices.

V3.co.uk asked Yahoo whether its partnerships with mobile providers should be taken as a sign that the firm is not planning to launch a mobile operating system like Android.

"Mobile internet is about much more than an operating system. We make key experiences available for high-end devices like iPhone, BlackBerry and Android and more basic devices," said a spokesman.

"And we will continue to work with OEM and carrier partners to increase the distribution of our products and services globally."