Blogs, instant messaging and other web services go mobile

Blogs and photo-sharing are more tied to PCs than PDAs. But the wireless industry is trying to make sure that people on the go who want to update their blogs, load photos onto Web sites, instant message with friends and find directions from their mobile phones have the fast connections they need to do so.

Consulting group Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that there are some 2.2 billion mobile users worldwide and moving toward 3 billion.

"As the industry grows we're seeing new business models emerge as the mobile, Internet and telecoms world collide," Mark Newman, Informa's chief research officer said Wednesday. "The one certainty is that the mobile phone is going to play an ever-important role in our work and social lives."

Vodafone Group PLC led the pack in announcing tie-ups with traditional Web-based companies.

The world's largest mobile phone service provider with 200 million customers in 25 countries, Vodafone struck deals with Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. this week to bring their respective Web-based services - instant messaging, personal blogs and mapping, among them - to its users.

Yahoo

With Yahoo, the two companies agreed to extend their partnership to include instant messaging services to mobile phones and personal computers.

The services will be integrated in a way that aims to bridge the gulf between cell phone and computer, including sending instant messages from one type to the other.

Microsoft

At the same time, Vodafone and Microsoft said they were working with each other on a cobranded instant messaging service that could also be accessed from a PC and a mobile phone, that was based on the U.S. company's Windows Live Messenger platform.

Microsoft is also putting its Live Search applications on Windows Mobile 6-powered smartphones in the U.S. and Britain, as well as on Nokia's Series 40 and 60 phones.

Other models that will feature the technology that provides search tools for everything from restaurants to global positioning help will include Motorola Inc.'s RAZR and SLVR family along with phones made by Samsung Electronics Corp. and LG.

Google

Google, which analysts had said could be viewed with suspicion, if not hostility by mobile operators because of its sheer size and dominance, reached out to the industry at the 3GSM wireless conference this week, unveiling a downloadable Java version of its Google Maps program for Vodafone.

YouTube & Nokia

The company's video-sharing Web site, YouTube, is also going mobile, too.

Earlier this week, Nokia said it would bring the site's video to its phones through a dedicated Web browser on its handsets linked to a YouTube mobile site.

YouTube also made a deal with Vodafone that will see customers in Britain, to be followed elsewhere in Europe, access the sharing site directly through the operator's handsets.

As part of the service, YouTube will provide a daily selection of new videos. Customers can forward links for their favorite videos to friends, upload their own content from their mobile phones and search across multiple categories.