The Russian search giant Yandex is extending its reach into the mobile market by pre-loading its services in Android phones in Russia.
Google plays a significant role in the mobile market as its open source software, Android powers up almost 80 percent of smartphones around the world. The web giant uses this as a bait to offer its integrated apps and services, ranging from Google Maps to free Gmail account, in all major smartphones. But the web giant has a new challenger, as Russia's biggest web search company, Yandex is offering its own services pre-installed in smartphones from two major companies, Huawei and ZAO Explay.
Yandex, which accounts for 62 percent online users in Russia, will offer services including browser, maps, search, cloud storage and store with 100,000 applications as a default option on two Android-based smartphones from Huawei and ZAO Explay. These devices are set to debut in Russia in March, head of mobile ecosystems at Moscow-based Yandex, Alexander Zverev, said in an interview, Mashable reports.
"When smartphone manufacturers use the Android platform, they normally have to stick to Google's services ranging from search to application store," Zverev said. "We are offering a full-fledged alternative here, and we are among a few companies in the world capable of doing this."
In addition, the Russian search giant has partnered with Google's rival, Microsoft, to make its search option default on Windows Phones sold in Russia, as well as Samsung smartphones running South Korean company's Bada operating system, Bloomberg reports.
These steps will give a boost to Yandex usage in both Web and mobile sector in Russia. According to IDC, 14 million Android phones were sold in Russia last year making up almost 80 percent of the country's smartphone market. Google Web search entertains only 27 percent of Russian online users compared to Yandex's 62 percent, IDC said. Yandex's partnership with Huawei and ZAO Explay will take advantage of the prominent sales both companies have in Russia. Huawei and ZAO Explay accounted for almost 6 percent of the total smartphone market, with 828,000 and 212,000 units sold, respectively, in Russia last year.
Yandex further aims to expand its reach in to the growing mobile market by partnering with other device manufacturers that use Android as a base platform including Amazon and Nokia Oyj, the report added.
The Russian Web search company plans to showcase its portfolio of mobile services at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.
