NEW YORK - Yesterday in Manhattan top Yahoo and Nokia executives announced a worldwide strategic alliance to extend the reach of both companies? online and mobile services.

Building on more than five years of collaboration on both PCs and mobile devices, Nokia will tap Yahoo?s email and instant messaging platforms as part of its attempt to crack the North American market, while Yahoo will leverage maps and navigation services powered by Navteq, a subsidiary of Nokia. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the executives said that there are no plans for a Yahoo-branded Nokia handset.

?Nokia?s Navteq unit will bring innovation to maps and navigation,? said Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA. ?We haven?t been focused enough on our maps platform and this changes that?it?s an increasing part of Yahoo?s DNA and we see it as core to our business, but we?ll partner with others when we need to add strength to our offerings.

?By using Nokia?s Navteq digital maps and navigation technology, we can provide the best experience for our users,? she said. ?Yahoo lost its focus on maps a couple of years ago?we chose to invest in other areas?but this really allows us to provide what is considered needed services around location and navigation to serve local communities.

?Nokia?s Navteq technology allows us to focus on our strengths, including search and content?Nokia is very interested in the North American market, and we have 78 percent Internet penetration in this market, so it?s very synergistic.?

Nokia is focusing on integrating its mobile phones, smartphones and mobile computers with services through Ovi, including music, maps, applications and email.

Nokia's Navteq specializes in digital mapping and navigation services, including location-based advertising.

Yahoo recently signed a similar deal with one of Nokia?s biggest competitors, Korean handset manufacturer Samsung (see story).

While the partnership between Nokia and Yahoo does not extend into the advertising realm, meaning the two companies will continue to compete in that space, location data gleaned from Navteq could help Yahoo?s targeting capabilities.

Yahoo has been emphasizing location and ramping up its mobile advertising strategy (see story).

All about location-based services
As part of the alliance:

? Nokia will be the exclusive, global provider of Yahoo?s maps and navigation services, integrating Ovi Maps across Yahoo properties, branded as ?powered by Ovi?

? Yahoo will become the exclusive, global provider of Nokia?s Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat services, branded as ?Ovi Mail / Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo?

? Nokia and Yahoo plan to work on an ID federation between their services, beginning by letting people to use their Ovi user IDs across select Yahoo properties to access online and mobile content

Here are the two executives discussing the partnership at yesterday's press conference in New York:

Global reach play
Together, Yahoo and Nokia will continue to court consumers, developers, carriers and advertisers.

The companies plan to take advantage of their respective global distribution networks and brand recognition across consumer audiences.

Select cobranded service offerings are expected to become available from the second half of 2010, with global availability expected in 2011.

?We are two powerful consumer brands working together to bring better services to potent billions around the world,? said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia, Espoo, Finland. ?This is part of our strategy to partner with companies with key complementary strengths to continue to build an ecosystem that benefits us all.?

Mr. Kallasvuo said that Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger are No. 1 in the U.S. on both PC and mobile devices, and that 300 million Yahoo users send 100 billion email messages a month and a billion instant messages a month.

?Yahoo has a strong record of integrating these services seamlessly on mobile devices, and with Ovi Email and Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo, we expect to offer even better email and messaging services than ever before,? Mr. Kallasvuo said. ?The partnership will help our respective global distribution in markets in which we each have tremendous potential, and for Nokia one of these is this one, North America.

?We are the leader in our industry yet we do not lead in the biggest market in the world, the U.S. market, and this is one step we are taking to change that,? he said. ?We expect this alliance to be a crucial step to expand our Ovi Mail and Maps services.?

Both companies stressed the fact that the partnership will help both companies attain scale in key areas.

?Ovi Maps is now a force on the Web as well as mobile, and we will continue to innovate on that platform and make it an even better platform for developers and gain mindshare in the North Amercian market when it comes to location-based services,? Mr. Kallasvuo said.

?Better scale will help us both to be stronger,? he said. ?The alliance with Yahoo makes a lot of sense to me strategically, operationally and financially.?