Yandex, the dominant Russian search engine, has got some good news in its continual competition with Google. Two smartphone manufacturers – Huawei Technologies and ZAO Explay – will sell Android operating system phones with Yandex services pre-installed. The phones will go on sale in Russia in March.
Yandex generated 62 percent of all search traffic in Russia – as of January, according to LiveInternet data, compared to Google’s 27 percent. That puts them in a more competitive position than Google.
“When smartphone manufacturers use the Android platform, they normally have to stick to Google’s services ranging from search to application store,” Alexander Zverev, head of mobile ecosystems at Moscow-based Yandex, told Bloomberg Businessweek. “We are offering a full-fledged alternative here, and we are among a few companies in the world capable of doing this.”
Yandex has a 52 percent market share of searches on Android phones in Russia. Yandex said it also had over 90 percent market share on smartphones running Windows Phone in Russia, too.
“We’d like to boost our market share on Android phones and benefit from growing mobile advertising,” Zverev added.
The number of Android phones sold in Russia doubled during 2013 to 14.1 million units, which represents about 80 percent of the nation’s smartphone market, IDC said. Explay sold 828,000 smartphones and Huawei sold 212,000 smartphones, which is 5.9 percent of market share, IDC adds.
Looking ahead, Yandex will show off its mobile services at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Yandex will be at E33, Hall 5 at Mobile World Congress in Fira Barcelona Gran Via, between Feb. 24 and 27.
In addition, Yandex has developed firmware for devices on the Android operating system. It is called “Yandex.Kit.” It is preinstalled on smartphones. Yandex.Kit provides an option for original equipment manufacturers and carriers – who want to avoid using Google. Huawei and Explay are the first to include the option, which will go on sale soon. Yandex.Kit will be used in Huawei Honor 3 Yandex and Explay Flame smartphones. The first tablets on Yandex.Kit will be available in the summer.
Yandex includes features that likely will be popular among Russian users, such as a contacts search which can find Russian names, including diminutives, in the Latin alphabet and in Cyrillic. Yandex.Kit’s phone directory can identify phone numbers of incoming calls even if they are not in a contacts book. It also includes a keyboard that can suggest the next word in Russian and provides prompts. Passwords are shown in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.
“Yandex.Kit will be enjoyed both by users and Android device manufacturers,” Yury Vecher, head of Software Distribution at Yandex, said in a statement. “The former get a smartphone that’s easy to use, while the latter receive all the necessary services and technologies for its creation, on flexible terms. Also, the revenues generated by Yandex.Kit will be shared with device manufacturers. We’re ready to work with any company manufacturing Android devices, on any market. For Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey we offer comprehensive, out-of-the-box solutions, and for other markets we are happy to offer a set of key services that are essential for creating firmware.”
Beyond just the Russian device manufacturers and carriers, Yandex is targeting B2B clients globally, TechCrunch said. It will let them brand the app store and feature the manufacturer’s or the carrier’s own apps. Yandex.Store also provides access to over 100,000 apps, including Twitter, Facebook, Skype, and Cut The Rope.
Edited by
Cassandra Tucker 
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