T-Mobile USA rejects Google in its mobile web revamp
Published: 21 November, 2008
T-Mobile USA has revamped its mobile web experience, but has shunned G1 partner Google in favor of Yahoo oneSearch, in a move that sees the search leader losing ground in its coveted handset market.
Google is already negotiating hard to preserve a plan to be the default search engine for Verizon Wireless, which could be snatched by Microsoft, and Yahoo has scored a series of successes with operators, particularly in Asia. As Google knows from its PC experience, being the default engine, featured on the home screen, is vital to success, especially with new contenders like Nokia polishing up their own search capabilities, often with advanced mobile-specific features like location awareness.
Yahoo already has the AT&T deal, so if Google does not get Verizon into its clutches, it will be left with Sprint Nextel only, among the national US carriers.
T-Mobile had been widely expected to support Google because they have worked closely over the launch of the G1, the first handset based on the search giant's Android platform. But the German-owned operator - already the most innovative of the big four in pushing out new mobile web interfaces and applications - has now introduced Web2go, claiming an intuitive browsing experience and user interface, which is optimized across the carrier's whole handset portfolio, including G1.
The main features of Web2go are improved web viewing and navigation, oneSearch and a more efficient mobile content shopping experience, says T-Mobile. The home screen is highly customizable, increasingly a must-have in attracting high value web users, as indicated by the success of Alltel's web experience (which will hopefully be supported after the Verizon takeover). Users of Web2go are offered one-click access to favorite sites, while the My Downloads feature retains premium applications, games and content when subscribers upgrade to new phones.
As well as conventional search, oneSearch supports news and information feeds, Flickr photos and intuitive grouping of results with links to images, laterally related content and downloads.
To go with the new system, T-Mobile has introduced a series of new bundled data plans, with options for web, email and messaging across all compatible phones and devices. Unlimited internet plans start at $39.99 a month.
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