There’s no question that the Google-Firefox browser partnership has been a boon to both parties. Google ships as the default search engine in the Firefox search box and as the default start page when the browser loads. That kind of distribution has to rank up there with Internet Explorer shipping with every PC. And the Mozilla Foundation has benefitted too, reaping untold millions from Google as part of the deal.
So the news that Yahoo has nailed the same kind of agreement with Firefox in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan could be a big deal. We don’t know what kind of usage Firefox has in those countries. But it would be a fascinating social experiment to see how many people actually use Yahoo Search instead of Google just because Yahoo’s the default the search engine.
“This is obviously really important to us,” Yahoo’s Gaude Paez told us.
Yahoo will pay Mozilla based on the number of searches that come through Firefox.
We wonder what kind of competition there was for this deal. It’s hard to imagine Google would lose this partnership without a fight. And if there was competition between Yahoo and Google, that could only be good financially for Mozilla.
UPDATE: We’re told there was competition.
5 Comments
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Gen Kanai said:
I’m a bit confused. I and friends here in Tokyop recently downloaded the Japanese version of Firefox 1.5 from this site.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all.html
The default splash screen is the same Fireofox/Google page that it was in 1.0.7.
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Rooffire said:
The Google Fast didn’t make it much past breakfast . . .
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Loren said:
“But it would be a fascinating social experiment to see how many people actually use Yahoo Search instead of Google just because Yahoo’s the default the search engine.”
I think you are forgeting exactly how popular Yahoo and its “Social Media” search with integrated blogs and tagging is in the Asian market. Take Japan for instance. The country is crazy about blogging, with over 5.9 million blogs tracked in September of this year and 10 million blogs indexed in Bloglines Japan.
Yahoo Blogs is the premier stop for Bloggers in Japan, and most blogs are personal blogs, and a large percentage are females… meaning that blogging is an everyday part of life.
If a Japanese user blogs on Yahoo Japan, shops on Yahoo Japan, bids on Yahoo Japan Auctions, and finds local shops via Yahoo Japan Local, roots for the Fukuoka Hawks baseball team which plays in the Yahoo Dome, and has Yahoo BB as their ISP, chances are they will enjoy having Yahoo Japan as their default search engine in the Firefox browser.
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David Naylor said:
Does anyone know the URL of the Yahoo Firefox start page?
Have been hunting around, but without luck.
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Tam said:
It’s true that Yahoo is very popular in Asia. It would beat Google over familiarity rather than superior search capability.
