Yahoo today announced the upcoming launch of its new Yahoo Mobile service. Yahoo Mobile will be available on the mobile Web, as an app developed for the Apple iPhone, and as an app developed for smartphones from Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola as well as those powered by Windows Mobile. Yahoo! Mobile initially will be available today through a managed beta program, with general availability expected in Q2 2009.

"We believe the new Yahoo! Mobile will transform the way millions of mobile users around the world will interact with the Internet," said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Yahoo! Inc. "Yahoo! Mobile will enable users to create their own Internet starting point on their mobile device so they can better discover, connect to and stay informed about the people and things that are important to them."

Yahoo Mobile will offer an open environment within which consumers can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet. These services include Yahoo's mobile search, editor-selected content, new maps tools, access to email and social network accounts from the most popular Web providers, as well as instant messaging, address book and calendar tools.

The servica also brings together favorite content - websites, sports teams, news sources, RSS feeds, weather, stocks, horoscopes and more - into a single location.

The smartphone version of Yahoo! Mobile will include the above functionality, plus Yahoo oneSearch with Voice, Opera Mini 4.2 mobile web browser and Widgets.

A managed beta program for Yahoo! Mobile has started today (http://mobile.yahoo.com).

The public release for Yahoo! Mobile are as follows:

For the mobile Web:
Launch timing: expected late March 2009
Devices: those running WebKit-based browsers (e.g. iPhone and iPod touch, many Nokia Series 60 and Android devices), Opera Mini 4.x, Windows Mobile devices with Internet Explorer Mobile, and the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Storm browsers

For iPhone:
Launch timing: expected late March 2009

For smartphones:
Launch timing: expected late May 2009
Devices: hundreds of select models from RIM, Windows Mobile, Nokia S60 and 40, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

At launch, each version of Yahoo! Mobile is planned to be available for the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Versions for other countries will roll out over the remainder of 2009.

Yahoo! Mobile will feature Yahoo's display advertising from major global advertisers.