On mobile handsets Yahoo! provides a far better user experience than Google or Bing. The same is true for Android phones even although Google deliver their results with a specific layout for Android.

Ya gota love open Source!

Mack.

next, android phones will be shipping with nothing google on them. goog left it open source, nothing says google MUST be on the platform.

Don't people have the option to choose who the search provider is? If they don't, that's crazy, cell phones shouldn't be closed systems.

I wouldent say android is a closed system. Google search it a widget.

Mack.

This is the price G pays for being a competitor to ATT, Apple etc. Why should they help G if that money will be used against them?

So is AT&T going to try to charge a monthly fee for their AT&T Navigator that they put in place of Google Maps?

Can you see Google claiming in a future case that it is better for the consumer if the Search Engine is tightly integrated into the operating system? ;)

This downgrades AT&T in my books, why on earth would you choose the 3rd place search engine whos CEO claims isn't even a search company over the proven technologies of Google or up and coming technologies of MSN.... who happens to run the yahoo show... never mind I get it now.

over the proven technologies of Google or up and coming technologies of MSN.... who happens to run the yahoo show... never mind I get it now.

Google stopped being the "good guy" a long time ago. They just have better PR people than Microsoft. Google is just another Microsoft so let them fight it out! Better results for end-users if they keep having to compete.

Personally, I prefer Bill Gates and Microsoft ... at least they are up front about their world domination plans ;)

People that aren't Android users have no clue how idiotic disconnecting Google is on the Android.

Voice search and voice recognition is sampled on the phone but processed at the Googleplex.

If you replace Google search with Yahoo, do you lose all the voice capabilities?

Not only that, but gmail and calendar are also tightly tied into the phone.

Not to mention that Google Maps now supplies a free voice navigation system.

While it may be open source, the smooth slick interactive experience mostly originates from Google tools and AT&T is wasting their time and money trying to shove a Yahoo Android down the consumers throats IMO.

After owning the real-deal, I sure as heck wouldn't buy one.

Can you imagine if you did get the Yahoo version what an outcast you would be to all your laughing Android friends?

It would be like having a iPhone that only uses Bing for search and Zune for music.

Plus a lot of apps based on Google Maps and other Google APIs will not work.

In retrospect, Google's decision to create their own branded unlocked phone seems a bit smarter, given what the carriers can do.