@MWC: Yahoo overhauls mobile portal

Yahoo Inc. unveiled an overhauled mobile portal that it hopes will become “your starting point to the Internet.”
The company launched a beta version of Yahoo Mobile, a wireless Web destination that combines existing Yahoo offerings oneSearch, oneConnect and onePlace as well as the popular browser Opera Mini. The offering, which can be personalized, integrates with popular e-mail and social networking services, Yahoo said, and includes news, RSS feeds, an address book, calendar and Yahoo Messenger.
The portal also supports widgets from Yahoo and other brands.
“We believe the new Yahoo Mobile will transform the way millions of mobile users around the world will interact with the Internet,” said Marco Boerrries, EVP of Yahoo. “(It) will enable users to create their own Internet starting point on the mobile device so they can better discover, connect to and stay informed about the people and things that are important to them.”
Yahoo Mobile will also be available as a downloadable application for Apple’s iPhone and smartphones from Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp., Research In Motion Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony Ericsson, and for devices running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. A general release of the mobile destination and the iPhone application is slated for late March; offerings for other smartphones are expected in May. The destination will feature ads from Yahoo’s advertising partners.