Three years after they forged a strategic alliance to deliver co-branded broadband and dialup, SBC Communications and Yahoo said they would extend that alliance and bring their co-branded digital services to home television and audio systems.
"This alliance advances the SBC strategy to evolve the 'digital home' into the 'digital lifestyle',” said SBC chief executive Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., announcing the extension.
“What you see on your SBC Yahoo Internet home page is coming to a TV set or wireless phone near you," he continued. "Customers want communications that revolve around them, not the other way around. By integrating the SBC Yahoo experience across multiple devices and networks, we'll deliver services that our competitors cannot match."
The extension of their co-branding will also bring those digital services to Cingular wireless cell phones, SBC FreedomLink wireless Internet, and SBC home networking equipment, the companies said, hoping it will help consumers simplify their days by letting them get personalized entertainment and communications from practically anywhere. The first new products under the extended SBC/Yahoo partnership are expected next year.
"The SBC Yahoo alliance is unmatched in the industry, both in terms of its depth and its proven success, and we are excited to build upon that success far into the future," said Yahoo chief executive Terry Semel. "The new services that will be developed out of this expanded relationship represent the next step in Yahoo's strategy to further deepen consumer relationships by extending our products and services beyond the desktop. SBC and Yahoo are putting consumers in the driver's seat, delivering what they want – when, how and where they want it."
The alliance extension will include broadband access by way of SBC’s Project Lightspeed fiberoptic network, and home entertainment with video on demand, LAUNCHcast Internet radio, SBC Yahoo Photos and remote access to digital video recorders, SBC and Yahoo said.
The two companies first partnered in November 2001, launched co-branded broadband and dialup services a little less than a year later, and has since proven one of the Internet world’s most successful partnerships.
