According to The Wall Street Journal, Google and Verizon are believed to be negotiating a deal together.
If the deal comes through, Google would be the default search site on Verizon instruments. If all goes well, this facility could even be extended to Verizon’s Web Portal and FiOS TV service at a later stage.

With the competition among wireless service providers increasing, Verizon is certainly in need of a good Search Partner, and has been talking to others such as Microsoft also.

Google on the other hand is equally keen to tie up with a carrier like Verizon as the Mobile Search market is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the near future. Such a deal would help them to improve the relevance of their ads by making them location specific etc.

Needless to say this would boost revenues for both companies.

The deal would also simplify matters for mobile search users. At present users have to go to different sites for different services, such as ring tones, hotels restaurants etc. If this deal is finalized, everything would be available under one roof.

Shares of both Venison and Google went up by 2.1% and 0.8% respectively after The Wall Street Journal reported that the two companies were close to a deal.

Yahoo already has a similar deal with AT&T.

How long such deals would be beneficial, remains to be seen, as, once the markets open up, it will be possible for users to use the search engine of their choice irrespective of the handset they use.

Google is trying very hard to improve the data available, about various regions of the world, on Google Maps. In order to do this, they have launched a new tool called map Maker, which uses a Wiki like approach.
This tool which was first launched in June 2008 will help to fill in details of the […]

Last week, Google launched a new tool, known as the Gears Geolocation API. This tool will enable mobile and desktop users to detailed information about the area they are in, even if they do not know where they are and their mobiles are not GPS enabled.
Third party developer, lastminute.com a well known travel site in […]

Towards the end of 2007, Google had launched a new means for content owners to track unauthorized videos on YouTube. This new product called Video ID, puts content owners in a position to control the use of their content, by means of the latest technology now available.
Content owners will now have the prerogative to […]

Facebook is planning to test a new ad format in U.K. and U.S.A., which would amalgamate well with the already existing features of the network.
Come September, they will roll out an ‘Engagement Ad’ format, with some select advertisers, in such a manner, that users can continue with their usual practice of commenting, giving gifts and […]

Google is introducing changes to the Quality Score metric used to determine the position of AdWords ads. The new system will calculate Quality Score live, at the time of the search query, replace minimum bid requirements with ‘first page bids’ and will no longer mark keywords as ‘inactive for search’.
More Accuracy to Quality Score: So […]

U2’s first studio album in over 4 years is rumoured to be scheduled for release on November 18, 2008. However, some tracks from the album have already been leaked over the Internet.
The lead singer, Bono, was playing some new songs from U2’s forthcoming album, which fans speculate might be named “No Line On The Horizon”, […]

The current U.S. Presidential hopefuls are certainly moving with the times, and in the process they are changing the way that election campaigns have been held over the years.
Barack Obama and John McCain are now making good use of the wide reach of the Web 2.0 sites and also search and social networking sites […]

There is some good news, for those who cannot decide between watching their favorite TV program and using the Internet. Connected TV, from Yahoo! enables users to access the Web on their television sets, on part of the screen, while also continuing to watch their favorite TV show.
There will be a range of widgets at […]

After having successfully launched YouTube on mobile phones last January, the parent company, Google, has started testing display ads on certain selected pages on YouTube mobile, in the U.S.A. and Japan.
Google’s advertising partners will also be able to learn about user preferences, thus allowing advertisers to target audiences for various categories of products, as millions […]