Motorola and Yahoo said today they have reached a multiyear deal to load Yahoo services on tens of millions of new Motorola phones.

Motorola, the world’s second-largest cellphone maker after Nokia, will preload Yahoo’s e-mail, search, address book and local search features onto handsets beginning in the first half of 2007 in markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

They will jointly market the new Motorola devices loaded with Yahoo mobile services via online networks, phone packaging and other channels. The two companies first entered into a partnership in July 2005 to make it easier for consumers to access the Web over mobile phones.

It bets the question, when will a WiFi phone be available with Yahoo services? Motorola’s WiFi cellphone, the CN620 (above), supports only 802.11a, and is designed for enterprise users. It has largely been phased out, however.

Motorola’s A910 dual mode Wi-Fi phone uses UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) for fixed-mobile convergence with access to both WiFi and GSM cellular networks (in Europe). Samsung launched a UMA phone, model: SGH-P200, in Italian market. UMA phones, with both WiFi and cellular connections, work just like a normal mobile phone but they automatically switch to landline rates (via WiFi) when you’re at home. This type of device is likely to be popular for cable operators who want to offer mobile phone service.

Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, says, “By the end of this year we will be marketing our ‘Triple Play’ package of video, voice and data services to the majority of our customers.” Growing business and commercial use is pushing Voice over IP into the spotlight.

In other news, Skype today announced a collaboration with hardware partners to deliver the first WiFi phones for Skype software, making Internet calling on the move a reality. By enabling consumers to make Internet calls without a computer, Skype is freeing people from their computers and saving them money.

“We want to give people the freedom to move around while talking and have access to Skype wherever they are - whether in front of a computer or while moving around the home or office,” said Stefan Oberg, General Manager Hardware for Skype. “Now people can make wireless Internet calls and enjoy the great Skype cost savings and sound quality free of a computer.”

Skype software enables Internet calling on the four WiFi phones announced today:

• Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK)
• Edge-Core WiFi Phone for Skype (WM4201)
• NETGEAR WiFi Phone for Skype (SPH101)
• SMC Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (WSKP100)

The WiFi phones come with everything built-in and connect to Skype. Any personal, business or free public WiFi access point that does not require browser authentication will work for the connection.

Skype to Skype calling is free, but calling out or in from landlines or cellphones costs extra.

Om Malik reports that’s not the case with the Gizmo Project which intends to offer almost free voice calls to the old PSTN numbers.

Gizmo, infact is going one step further and offering free dialing to old-fashioned phone and mobile numbers in 60 countries. When you sign up for Gizmo Project, you fill out your profile and add your work; mobile, and home phone numbers to that profile. These are the numbers that can be called for free.

Tech Crunch says Gizmo was founded just 13 months ago by a team that includes Michael Robertson, the founder of SIPphone, MP3.com, AjaxLaunch and a variety of other projects. Tech Crunch likes the one-click recording feature.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, 470.7 million cell phones have shipped so far in 2006, which suggests that the industry may be close to shipping 1 billion units for the full year.

Related DailyWireless articles include; Earthlink’s WiFi Phone Service, Roaming WiFi Phones, Cable/Sprint Pole Dance, Cable Makes Its Move, The Cloud Talks, Nokia & Motorola UMA Phones, WiFi/Cellular Roaming Near?, Cell/WiFi Calls Tested, Cell phone with WiFi Roaming, $39 WiFi Phone?, ZyXEL WiFi Phone Wins Award, Cingular: WiFi Inside, Cable Going Mobile?, Voice Over WiFi Mutates, Roaming With VoIP and WiFi/Cellular Voice Roaming.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 1:27 am.