June 1, 2011 – MediaTek Inc, a leading manufacturer of semiconductors for wireless communications and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced a global partnership that will embed Yahoo!’s services into MediaTek’s mobile platform solutions. MediaTek is the world’s largest mobile chipset maker and in 2010, the company shipped over 500 million units for assembly into a wide range of mobile phones distributed worldwide.
Yahoo! will be MediaTek’s first global mobile service partner to deliver mobile Internet services including Yahoo! Messenger, News, Finance, Weather, Mail and other Yahoo! popular services on MediaTek’s MAUI Runtime Environment (MRE). MRE is MediaTek’s new middleware technology designed for mobile developers to deploy services and content for ‘Smart-Feature phones.’
With the launch of the MRE technology and the partnership with Yahoo! and MediaTek, the market can expect more ‘Smart-Feature phones’ to be available at an affordable price. This partnership will also allow users of handsets powered by MediaTek’s System on Chips to easily discover and connect with Yahoo! through its best-in-class products, content, tools and services and help them get the most of the digital world. MediaTek has been working closely with leading handset brands such as Cherry Mobile, Spice Group, Spice CSL and Nexian to develop products based on the MRE technology and it is in ongoing discussions with other brands.
According to Ming-Kai Tsai, Chairman of MediaTek, “MediaTek has redefined the mobile landscape through our partnership with Yahoo!. By integrating Yahoo! services into our mobile platform solutions, we are providing our customers and end users with access to the best experience for hugely popular Yahoo! services like Messenger, Mail, News, Weather and much more. Our collaboration with Yahoo! makes it more convenient for handset manufacturers to accelerate their speed to market and to reduce their deployment cost of those popular services. This is a significant milestone and a win-win for all parties who can now capitalize on the high growth rate of feature phones happening around the world.”
Rose Tsou, Senior Vice President of Yahoo! Asia Pacific said, “The mobile Internet presents a wealth of opportunity for Yahoo! and our partnership with MediaTek will further connect us with our audiences in growing markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and India where new to Internet users are coming online for the first time through their mobile devices.”
The MediaTek and Yahoo! product development roadmap covers MRE, widget capable ‘Smart Feature phones’ and the Android platform. Services included in the roadmap are Yahoo! Messenger, Mail, News, Weather, Finance, Cricket, Flickr and Answers. More services will be added in the future.
About MediaTek
Since 1997, MediaTek has been a pioneering fabless semiconductor company and a market leader in cutting-edge systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, wireless networking, HDTV, DVD and Blu-ray. Our tightly-integrated, innovative chip designs help manufacturers optimize supply chains, reduce the development time of new products, and extend a competitive edge in crowded markets. Through MediaTek Labs, the company is also building a developer hub that will support device creation, application development, and services for the Internet of Things era. By building technologies that help connect individuals to the world around them, MediaTek is enabling people to expand their horizons and more easily achieve their goals. We believe anyone can achieve something amazing. And we believe they can do it every single day. We call this idea Everyday Genius and it drives everything we do. Visit mediatek.com for more information..
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is the premier digital media company, creating deeply personal digital experiences that keep more than half a billion people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the globe. That’s how we deliver your world, your way. And Yahoo!’s unique combination of Science + Art + Scale connects advertisers to the consumers who build their businesses. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.com) or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).