Yahoo strikes deal with Vodafone

A DEAL just announced by Vodafone should see it become Yahoo's exclusive UK mobile phone advertising partner.

It may even lead to lower call charges for those Vodafone customers who agree to accept Yahoo's ads. It's unclear whether these ads would only be seen when subscribers surf the mobile Net.

The INQ has seen several technology demonstrations where ads are 'pushed' down to the handset with the owner's permission. These ads can even appear on the handset's 'idle' screen.

The move follows remarks made by Google's Eric Schmidt, who predicted that calls might become free for those who use their mobile phone to search the mobile Internet or who buy online with their phones.

It's not the first time free phone calls have been linked to advertising. The INQ seems to recall that Richard Branson proposed such a facility for students (who otherwise couldn't afford to make such calls).

In this last case, however, the long suffering students would have been forced to listen to ads before being connected to their friends and families. µ