Yahoo! and google slug it our on my mobile desktop - Yahoo! wins, but victory is short-lived

I have been using Google’s downloadable search widget on my phone for a while. It pops up a little search box on the homescreen when you press the pencil key on my N Series Nokia. It’s a nice little app that sits there minding its own business and quicker to access than a WAP based search page. All good.

I was on the Yahoo! Onesearch homepage when I noticed an ad for ‘faster search’. Who doesn’t want faster mobile internet? - So I clicked and was directed to download. Yahoo! never made it clear exactly what I was downloading, but I trust the brand and went ahead, downloaded and installed.

Well, when I went to my desktop I realised that the ‘faster search’ was in fact Yahoo!’s version of the google desktop search widget. What’s more, the Yahoo! app had superimposed itself over the google search box and the two were literally fighting for position on my mobile desktop. So when I pressed the pencil key, the google box flashed up, followed by the Yahoo! box, but it's the Yahoo! box that won. It’s the only one I could use, even if I exited from it.

And I thought Jerry was Sergei’s *****!

Seriously though, talk about ramming software down my throat! No warning from Yahoo! that it will disable existing apps, no choice offered. It’s like as if Internet Explorer blocked Firefox. Not good, and not really acceptable in my opinion. I want to choose what I use - you can’t force your apps onto consumers.

I’ve now removed the Yahoo! widget. It might be a good product, but I’m not being played like that. All I needed was an option, something like - ‘Make Yahoo! your default home-screen search Y/N’, that would have left me in control of my mobile desktop and happy to try it out.

Yahoo! is often preceded by the words ‘embattled’ or ‘troubled’ nowadays, so I can understand why it would want to agressively push its search products. However, these kind of tactics are surely going to alienate the consumer.

So Jerry, the Mobile User Experience insight here is free and given with love, because the mobile search needs competition and innovation, but, with respect, you have to play fair.

Also posted on www.welovemobile.co.uk