Mozilla Drops Google, Taps Yahoo As New Default US Search Provider

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Mozilla announced on Wednesday that it was ending its 10-year relationship with Google, and had signed a five-year deal to make Yahoo the default search-engine provider for its Firefox web browser in the US.
“Google has been the Firefox global search default since 2004. Our agreement came up for renewal this year, and we took this as an opportunity to review our competitive strategy and explore our options,” Mozilla CEO Chris Beard wrote in a blog post.
“In evaluating our search partnerships, our primary consideration was to ensure our strategy aligned with our values of choice and independence, and positions us to innovate and advance our mission in ways that best serve our users and the Web. In the end… one strategy stood out from the rest,” he added, explaining that Mozilla was “ending our practice of having a single global default search provider” in favor of a country-by-country approach.
In addition to switching to Yahoo in the US, Mozilla also announced that it would be using Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China, said Peter Bright of Ars Technica. As part of its new contract with Yahoo, the search engine will begin honoring the Do Not Track feature used by Firefox (which will limit the search portal’s ability to monitor user activity) and will unveil a new search interface for the web browser starting in December.
Bright reported that financial terms of the deal between Mozilla and Yahoo were not revealed. Over the course of its 10 year relationship with Google, the Mountain View, California-based company paid an estimated $100 million to be the default Firefox search engine – a sum which Bright said represented up to 85 percent of Mozilla’s total income.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer released a statement calling the new deal “the most significant partnership for Yahoo in five years” stating the company was “proud that Mozilla has chosen us as their long-term partner in search.” Mayer also called Mozilla “an inspirational industry leader who puts users first” and that their new Firefox interface would provide “a clean, modern, and immersive search experience.”
As for the impact the new partnership will have on Google, CNET’s Stephen Shankland said that, even though Firefox has “millions of users who perform about 100 billion searches a year” and “is a major source of the search traffic that’s Google’s bread and butter,” the company now has its own web browser, Chrome, and does not need to share search-ad revenue earned through that browser with any other company.
Beard confirmed that Firefox users will still be able to switch to other search engines, and that Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia would be built-in alternatives. In Russia, Yandex Search will be the default and Google, DuckDuckGo, OZON.ru, Price.ru, Mail.ru, and Wikipedia will be alternatives, while in China, Baidu will be the default, while Google, Bing, Youdao, Taobao and other local options will also be available.
“Our new search strategy doubles down on our commitment to make Firefox a browser for everyone. We believe it will empower more people, in more places with more choice and opportunity to innovate and ultimately put even more people in control over their lives online,” the Mozilla CEO said. “Being non-profit lets us make different choices. Choices that keep the Web open, everywhere and independent. We think today is a big step in that direction.”
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