Increasing focus on emerging markets from Yahoo!

As evidenced at the recent Communicasia industry conference in Singapore, more and more western companies are intensifying their efforts to expand in the region.  One of the more successul in this area is Yahoo!, which sees 25-30% of its global mobile audience coming from countries such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Thus, in an effort to expand their Asian footprint, Yahoo! announced the release of a new handset developed in in cooperation with Alcatel and TCT Mobile of China.  This handset leverages Yahoo! API's to enable Yahoo! services such Mail, IM, Social Pulse, Search, and more at a low price point so customers in these markets can enjoy all the features and functionality of a high-end smart phone, but for a lower cost.

This is great news for both consumers in the emerging markets, and for technology companies wishing to expand there, especially ones similar to Momail.  The growth in the market, combined with the marketing power of companies such as Yahoo! will help to encourage even more customers to try new services on their mobile, and and thus expand opportunities for all.