Report: Microsoft wants Google's Verizon deal

Microsoft is working to hijack Verizon Wireless' search deal from rival Google, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The software giant is counting on Google's recent regulatory distraction in offering more generous revenue sharing and higher payments, the newspaper reported late Thursday.

Google has reportedly been courting the No. 2 wireless carrier for months to make its search engine the default on Verizon phones, but Verizon is considering both offers, according to the Journal's sources.

Microsoft showed its desire to move into Google's search territory earlier this year when it made a . Microsoft's latest salvo comes after Google bowed to federal regulators' opposition and killed its controversial advertising partnership with Yahoo.

Google's preoccupation with regulators over the Yahoo deal helped create the opening for Microsoft with Verizon, the sources told the newspaper.

The move comes as the two companies ramp up their efforts in the mobile arena. The first phone based on Google's Android mobile operating system--a challenger to Microsoft's Windows Mobile--recently went on sale. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday dismissed Android, saying he believed that building it was financially unsound for Google.

"They can hire smart guys, hire a lot of people, blah dee blah dee blah, but you know they start out way behind, in a certain sense," he said.

[MaLvaDo39]

"They can hire smart guys, hire a lot of people, blah dee blah dee blah, but you know they start out way behind, in a certain sense," he said.

I believe he was referring to the Zune... *snicker*

[coryschulz]

What the h#!! is wrong with Ballmer?!? He said the iPhone wouldn't sell, and now it sells like crazy. Now he says that Android won't sell, and guess what... it's probably going to sell like mad!!! Granted Android still needs to mature a little bit and become available on some different hardware platforms, but it will definitely catch up quickly in these areas and it will eventually outsell anything MS is selling. I think Android is one of the smartest financial moves Google has ever done. As mobile searching increases on mobile devices, Android will be there to compete with other handset makers and will help maintain an open development platform for the internet. Android is huge, the iPhone is huge, and MS is quickly becoming yesterdays news.

[Alex Alexzander]

Please point out where you read that Balmer states or opins that "Android phones won't sell".

Alex Alexzander

[xdeadclancyx]

@ Alex: I'm pretty sure Ballmer saying that "building it was financially unsound" translates into they won't make money on it meaning Android phones won't sell.

He knows a lot about things that won't sell ::cough::VISTA::cough:: so I'd say this statement has some reputability.

[Laserdisc]

With the "media" the way it is we don't know the precise context in which Ballmer is being quoted. This article gives me the impression that Ballmer is dismissing Google's ability to profit from Android, just like he dismissed the iPhone from another article.
And with such perception it appears that Ballmer isn't taking Android seriously. While not an immediate threat to Windows Mobile in the enterprise it could become one soon enough if Android can continue to draw more end users to the platform providing the same functionality as Windows Mobile but at a substantially lower price.

[bhushan bhaagii]

Or, they can really get behind you, ride roughshod over you, take away every stitch of your clothing,
and then z-i-p, laughing all the way to the bank.

[jchirinda]

Its a shocker for someone like Ballmer to say, there are no financial gains for google to dish out Android. Well Ballmer if you ain't that smart here is the catch, Android is google's 10 year strategy. In 10 years the world over people will be using mobile phones running Android, google will have unprecedented access to a global audience of 4 billion users or so. Ballmer, imagine what revenues google could rack in through advertising!!!! Be smart Ballmer...google is thinking ahead...ARE YOU?????

[Super2online]

It's funny how no one is considering the possibility that Microsoft could easily pull a Google and demand equal search access through the courts on any phone that has an exclusive Google search deal. If Google can do it to the browser and OS, Microsoft could do it for phones! As Google continues to approach monopoly status and there dominance begins to encrouch on every appliance, it would seem to be the logical approach for Microsoft to engage when the time comes.

[PhaseDMA]

Every time Ballmer opens his mouth I either feel like he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about or is just being a complete jerk - or both.

The man in a very short time has become one big jerk.

Throw in the fact he talks bable (blah dee blah dee blah) and it just really really scares me.

[nicmart]

Why would Verizon choose Microsoft's search when an even worse option, Cuil, is available?

[UITD]

Thats IF and WHEN the Verizon wireless service works.

[Penguinisto]

Well - they can certainly try. I don't expect Verizon to give up #1 for #3 though, unless a metric ton of money was involved.

[Ipopngraphics]

OMG why would Google want to give MS the chance to mess up something else. We already know their software is unstable at best....

[Web Hero]

It's so humerous to see people that don't have energy to believe in more than one entity, to bash the other without facts, honesty, and logic.... I lol'ed when I read the comment that "MS search is unstabe at best... " huh?

There will always be drama when it comes to domination.

Jasee Delacomb
"Making Ditial Headway..."

[royc]

We already know their software is unstable at best....

@ Web Hero

I lol'ed when I read the comment that "MS search is unstabe at best... " huh?

The poster didn't say anything about search being unstable only their software. Oh, wait, the search is software so I guess that is what you meant. ;)

[jimafrost]

Isn't that pretty much what he said with the iPhone? And yet the iPhone is doing pretty damn well, Thank You Very Much. Ballmer needs to trash talk potential competition given how poorly WinPhones have been accepted. (Frankly they're so bad that I was MAD the first time I used an iPhone. If Apple can do that well on its first try, how incompetent must Microsoft be in order to put out so many crap releases?)

I have no idea if Android phones are going to be any good -- to be frank, the various open-source UI-based systems I've used have been obviously second-tier so I'm skeptical (although embedded Linux with closed-source UIs, like Tivo, have done very well in some instances). It would be stupid to dismiss them casually, though.

jim frost
[e-mail]

[bhain3s]

I could see him resigning pretty soon haha on this rate