Yahoo and HP sign search engine pact

SPY SCANDAL-ROCKED HP has taken time out from its busy schedule of litigation to sign a deal with the search outfit Yahoo.

Under the deal, Yahoo will be installed on every computer that HP flogs. The move is widely seen as both Yahoo and HP playing catch up on their rivals of Google and Dell.

HP will set up its desktop and notebook PCs in the US and Europe so Yahoo's search engine appears in the toolbar of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7. The hope is that Yahoo will get a lot more hits as many HP users do not change their search bars.

HP gets a search engine service which is like Dell's pact with Google, which was announced four months ago.

It is Yahoo which will have to shell out the cash to HP for the service, although it didn't say how much.

More in the Sydney Morning Herald here. µ