Google is set to sign a deal with Japan’s biggest mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo that will see Google become the default search provider to 48 million NTTDoCoMo customers. The deal will also see NTT DoCoMo switching to Google Apps for the provision of email to it customers.
Japan is one of the few markets globally in which Yahoo is ahead of Google in search, holding 65.9% of the market in April to Google’s 27.8%. The overall gap amongst all Yahoo and Google properties however isn’t quite as wide, with Yahoo properties totaling 41 million unique visitors in August (comScore) to Google’s 31 million.
The deal will be a much needed boost for Google in a search market that it has failed to lead, unlike nearly every other country on the planet.
According to Reuters, the alliance may eventually lead to the development of new functions and handsets.