Yahoo does deal with Acer for default search engine
Yahoo has struck a deal with computer manufacturer Acer to ensure its search engine page is the default on all new Acer PCs sold from October. They’re hoping it will give them a boost on rivals Google and MSN (soon to be Windows Live Search). The deal is expected to include a split of ad revenue between the two companies.
The browser (presumably Internet Explorer) will load a start page offering Yahoo content and services such as Yahoo Mail, News and Finance, plus links to Acer service and support. They’ll provide an update when Internet Explorer 7 is available.
I missed news of an earlier deal between Google and Dell to do a similar thing on some of Dell’s new PCs.
I’m not a great fan of these default page deals, not that it’s difficult or time consuming to install Firefox or change the default home page. Not to sound condescending, but it may be of more use to less proficient home PC users who will probably be quite happy to get Yahoo with Mail, News et al automatically coming up on their browser (and unlikely to change their browser from Explorer, either)
It will be interesting to see if Microsoft add any Windows Vista defaults to point to Windows Live Search. Still, none of it’s unchangeable. Google still sits as my front page – if nothing else it loads fast even if I’m not going to search for anything.
What’s your browser home page?
