Yahoo and Samsung have extended a three-year-old partnership that will bring the internet search provider’s content to millions of Samsung handsets running both its homegrown bada operating system and Google’s Android.
The deal is not exclusive, but if Samsung decides to, it could do something as extreme as replacing Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search on Android devices with Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). Previously, Yahoo was providing a limited number of applications to Samsung, including Go, Flickr and Finance, to lower-end handsets. This new agreement expands to more countries, more devices and more Yahoo services.
Samsung will now pre-load a number of Yahoo services on to its handsets, including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Front Page, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Flickr, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Contacts, Yahoo! Calendar, and Yahoo! Weather on a global basis starting in May.
Yahoo’s partnership with Samsung comes at a confusing time in the wireless industry, where carriers, handset makers and operating systems are all forming conflicting search deals that clash with one another. In recent months, AT&T (NYSE: T) replaced Google search with Yahoo on an Android device to comply with a search deal it has with Yahoo. In addition, T-Mobile USA recently ended its multi-year contract with Yahoo to begin a new one with Google.
Imagine a confusing scenario in which Samsung makes an Android phone with Yahoo services for Verizon Wireless, which has an exclusive deal with Microsoft’s Bing. While these partnerships are still being signed, their importance is definitely being diminished — end-users can easily bypass pre-loaded applications by downloading applications from the competition in open marketplaces, or by going to a web site from within the browser.

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