20th February - T-Mobile and Yahoo! enter into a strategic partnership, and effective end of March 2008 T-Mobile will launch industry leading mobile search with Yahoo!. T-Mobile is also expanding partnerships for its social web services by cooperating with communities such as YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo. In order to allow T-Mobile customers to access these services anywhere and anytime, the company is lowering roaming charges for data usage in Europe. Further plans for 2008: T-Mobile will launch mobile instant messenging services in leading European markets. Therefore partnerships have been agreed with providers of Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Yahoo! Messenger.

Strategic partnership between T-Mobile and Yahoo!
T-Mobile and Yahoo! are joining forces effective March 30th, 2008. T-Mobile, the pioneer for open mobile Internet, and Yahoo!, the Internet pioneer, will cooperate for industry leading mobile search experience as part of a strategic partnership. Yahoo!’s oneSearch quickly and easily delivers relevant results and instant answers to search queries, removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of PC Web links. oneSearch provides consumers access to news, financial information, weather conditions, photos, Web images and Mobile Web sites. “With Yahoo!, T-Mobile has entered into a partnership with a true Internet pioneer. This cooperation agreement offers significant advantages to our mobile Internet customers, and creates the foundation for successful cooperation in the future,” says Hamid Akhavan, CEO T-Mobile International.

T-Mobile getting YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo on board
Through partnerships with some of the most popular mobile community-based video/photo sharing and social networking platforms, T-Mobile customers can network with friends and business partners on their mobile phones wherever and whenever they choose. Prominent examples include the internet communities YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo. An optimized phone interface and the proven web’n’walk widgets allow users to personalize their mobile Internet experience.
The main advantage: Users can access their favourite sites with one click from their personalized homepage of the web’n’walk portal. “Cooperation with YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo allows T-Mobile customers to develop and expand their personal networks whenever and wherever they like,” says Christopher Schläffer, Group Product & Innovation Officer at T-Mobile International.

Mobile Instant Messaging Service in 2008
T-Mobile will launch a Mobile Instant Messaging service later this year in key European markets. Customers will be able to enjoy real IM chat on their mobile phone using their favourite Instant Messaging provider. Agreements have been signed with providers of Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Yahoo! Messenger, bringing together the largest IM communities and one of the largest mobile community in the world.
In launching this service, T-Mobile will mobilize some of the most popular social communication services on the Internet. It will provide a richer and near seamless communication experience between mobile and PC users on a given IM network. Customers will be able to see which of their friends are online and start a conversation.

New roaming charges for data usage in other European countries
Thanks to T-Mobile, surfing on mobile phone and with laptop is not just quick and easy but also affordable. T-Mobile is reducing roaming charges for data usage in Europe and will implement a uniform roaming charge for data connections: Mobile Internet within Europe will costs just € 2 per megabyte, especially attractive for occasional handset surfing abroad. This is ideally suited to get the latest information for example from the web’n’walk portal, or check the latest emails. And there’s more: This price applies regardless of which operator is chosen, so no worries about accidentally roaming in the wrong network and paying unexpected high prices.

T-Mobile is also offering roaming services that are especially suited for heavy data users who need a larger data volume. With the T-Mobile Day Pass, for only € 15, customers can purchase a transfer volume of 50 megabyte – regardless of the network operator, worry-free.