Rediff + Yahoo > Indiatimes?

Two of India’s leading Internet portals Rediff.com and Yahoo! India have

inked a strategic pact to jointly promote online shopping and mobile content

across both the portals. Under the terms of the agreement, Rediff.com will power

the Yahoo! India shopping channel while Yahoo! India will showcase their prime

content like ringtones, polyphonic tunes, wallpapers and java games among others

on the Rediff.com website, where Rediff.com users shall be able to download this

content through the Yahoo! India shortcode: 8243. This content will be in

addition to Rediff Mobile premium content currently available on the Rediff

shortcode 7333.

Rediff.com and Yahoo! India have been two of the very few to have survived

the Indian dotcom bloodbath. According to most industry experts, this was

possible because both the portals were smart enough to realize in time that

their business model should envisage much beyond a simple online mode of

delivery. Over time, Rediff.com has been able to successfully monetize its

strength in consumer e-commerce, while Yahoo! India reveled in its ability to

deliver innovative mobile content. The result is that today both of them command

over 30 million registered users in India. Taken in this light, the current

association would enable both players to successfully leverage the strengths of

each other to reach out to a far wider audience.

The synergy between the two works out seamlessly by the fact that Yahoo!

shoppers will now have access to the Rediff Marketplace which has over 100 shops

across 30 product categories reaching across to 800 locations in India. The

alliance also makes sound business sense as it would allow them to take on

Indiatimes head on.

Rajneesh De in Mumbai