Motorola and AT&T put Yahoo on an Android homescreen
As vendors strive to differentiate themselves more strongly, the Backflip delivers the strongest snub yet to Google's user experience
Published: 3 March, 2010
READ MORE: US | Google | Motorola | AT&T | Applications (Search) | Handset | Android
The first wave of Android handsets pretty much followed the prescribed Google blueprint in terms of user experience, but in the second round, vendors are differentiating themselves more strongly, and addressing criticisms that the platform is too dominated by Google. Now Motorola has moved further than anyone else, outside China, by even removing Google's search engine from the homescreen of its latest Android phone, the AT&T Backflip.
This may well be driven by the carrier rather than Motorola, which is a key Google ally and is likely to make the search giant's next handset, Nexus Two. While Verizon Wireless has formed close ties with Google, and seems happy to have the internet player's apps and branding prominent on its Android phones (including Motorola's Droid), AT&T will be aiming for a different look and feel. Although it will offer several Android handsets this year, it has not put the Google system at the heart of its web strategy in the same way as its arch-rival, and is still expected to make Symbian/Ovi its major platform apart from the iPhone.
Outside Verizon, Motorola has been drifting further from the standard Google interface, notably with the socially oriented Motoblur, present on the Cliq/Dext and other models, and due to be the foundation for an advanced UI in future, complete with 3D. Backflip will not run Motoblur, but it will offer Yahoo as its default search engine instead of Google, though it comes preloaded with other Google apps such as Maps, Talk and Android Market.
However, search is the most important to the software giant, and some believe the main objective in creating Android was to drive mobile search revenues, which could be boosted from $180m to as much as $500m between 2009 and 2011, on the back of its control of its mobile OS, according to estimates from analysts at Jefferies and Company.
Yahoo was quick to crow. "We have a long standing relationship with AT&T and more than 80 carrier partnerships around the world for our award winning mobile search experience," said VP David Katz in a statement published by BusinessWeek.
The Backflip goes on sale this weekend for $99.99 after mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract.
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