Nokia and Yahoo! on Monday announced a worldwide strategic alliance to extend the reach of their online services and offer people rich experiences that keep them connected to their world and the world around them. Nokia and Yahoo! plan to leverage each others' strengths in e-mail, instant messaging and maps and navigation services.

Together, Yahoo! and Nokia will continue to deliver compelling Internet experiences that address the core needs of consumers, developers, operators and advertisers. The companies will utilize their respective global distribution advantages and brand recognition across consumer audiences. Select, co-branded service offerings are expected to become available from the second half of 2010, with global availability expected in 2011.

As part of the alliance:

• Nokia will be the exclusive, global provider of Yahoo!'s maps and navigation services, integrating Ovi Maps across Yahoo! properties, branded as "powered by Ovi”.
• Yahoo! will become the exclusive, global provider of Nokia's Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat services branded as "Ovi Mail / Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo!"
• Nokia and Yahoo! plan to work on ID federation between their services, beginning by making it easy for people to use their Ovi user IDs across select Yahoo! properties to easily access  the online content and services they need.

"Delivering great user experiences – both online and on your mobile – is what this alliance is all about. We're enabling millions of Yahoo! customers in key markets including North America to discover the unique capabilities that Ovi Maps brings. Similarly, Yahoo!'s online expertise will bring exciting mail and messaging enhancements to millions of Ovi Mail customers across almost every country around the world, many of whom will have their first Internet experience on their mobile,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief executive officer of Nokia.

Tags: Nokia, Yahoo, Business