Nokia will be using its Ovi Maps for the mapping application of Yahoo, tagged with ‘powered by Ovi’ underneath, as the Internet giant seeks to compete with their rival’s Google Maps.

In an equal move, Yahoo will take over Nokia’s Ovi chat and Ovi Mail between handsets, which means it will now be tagged as ‘powered by Yahoo’.

It also means that Ovi and Yahoo logins will be more unified, with a plan to make Ovi profiles easier to use on services of Yahoo.

“We’re enabling millions of Yahoo! customers in key markets including North America to discover the unique capabilities that Ovi Maps brings,” said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

“Similarly, Yahoo!’s online expertise will bring exciting mail and messaging enhancements to millions of Ovi Mail customers across almost every country around the world, many of whom will have their first Internet experience on their mobile.”

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said: “We’re excited to expand the reach of our best-in-class Mail and Messenger services, bringing personalised experiences to more people across the mobile Web, particularly in emerging markets where we are seeding the next generation of Yahoo! users.”

Bartz added that they believe Nokia’s continued investment in navigation and maps will improve their existing products, enabling them to focus on the core of their business.

After the proposal was first mentioned in July 2009, the Commission have been investigating the impact of the deal upon the search engine market. Expressing that Google currently controls 90per cent of the European market, a spokesperson said that the deal would in fact “increase competition in internet search and search advertising by allowing Microsoft to become a stronger competitor to Google.” Meanwhile Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft said “I believe that together, Microsoft and Yahoo will promote more choice, better value and greater innovation to our customers as well as to advertisers and publishers.”

However, whilst both companies are due to benefit from the ten year revenue deal which will see Yahoo gain 88per cent of money made from their own sites with the integrated Bing search engine, some experts believe it will have little impact on the market. DMG Europe’s technology analyst Chris Green expressed that the move wouldn’t pull much market share from Google, saying “This deal gives Microsoft a bigger slice of the internet advertising business, but it is still miles and miles behind Google. Microsoft’s Bing is technically a very good search engine, but no-one uses it, and it doesn’t currently make a profit. The deal with Yahoo should turn it into a not-too-shabby and profitable world number two search engine. But still no Google.”

Speaking of one of their core business ambitions, search boss for Yahoo Shashi Seth explained “Yahoo has been in search, is in search and will continue to be in search. That is the stake we have put in the ground. We will continue to show innovation and drive lots of great features and products into the marketplace and wow our users.” He added that the deal with Microsoft had caused a negative effect in some of their user base, an event that they wanted to reverse. “I wouldn’t say it killed us but it did make a dent. It is going to be a really tough job going forward but I think we are well equipped to do well in that space,” he said.

Compounding their continuing desire to remain in the search market, Yahoo also unveiled a number of applications at their SearchSpeak presentation. Including organisation tools to allow search criteria to be easily looked through, one application for the smartphone allows drawing a circle on a map with the finger and searching for restaurants inside the location. Explaining the move to organise and present search results in a much more modern setting, vice-president of search consumer products at Yahoo Larry Cornett explained “It includes everything in your everyday life. We are talking about people like celebrities and athletes, but also your friends and the people you are connected to. We are talking about restaurants, stores, places you go, things you are thinking about buying and connecting them in a way you don’t have to think about when using search.”

Buying the site in 1999 for $3.57bn, Yahoo acquired GeoCities at a stage when the dotcom era was booming. Started in 1995 by a small hosting firm called Beverley Hills Internet, the site quickly gained millions of followers who wanted to create their own web pages. As Yahoo revealed that from 26th October any GeoCities sites would no longer be available, editor of website ZDNet Rupert Goodwins said “I think GeoCities was the first proof that you could have something really popular and still not make any money on the internet. It was a fascinating experiment in the pre-industrial era of the internet.”

Meanwhile, GeoCities will not be lost forever. Archiving project Internet Archive said that many pages would still be available to view through their portal. “We’ve collected a lot of GeoCities sites over the years – but might not have every site and every page,” they explained saying that though not all pages have been archived, a reminder of the website would always be available. “GeoCities has been an important outlet for personal expression on the web for almost 15 years,” they said, advising users to check if their content had been archived before the site was closed.

However, whilst Google continues to make increasing profit, Yahoo is still struggling to create sales whilst remaining as one of the world’s favourite web portals. With many advertisers choosing to move to smaller, emerging websites during the recession, Yahoo has failed in managing to secure the lucrative contracts that it needs to turn its user rating into profit. After co-founder Jerry Yang left earlier this year to be replaced with new chief executive Carol Bartz, and a $100m campaign to advertise the launch of their new home hub, Yahoo are hoping that its new image will create the profit increase it desperately needs.

Brigantine Advisors analyst Olin Gillis said “We knew the new management could drive some of the cost out of the system, but we want to start to see what can be done to have the company return to growth. This is a company that’s still very much in the process of being restructured. It’s a mild positive. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

Meanwhile Yahoo and Microsoft’s deal continues to wait for approval from regulatory officials and isn’t expected to finalise until 2010.

The news emerged as a regulatory filing was made late on Tuesday. It revealed that should Microsoft fail to meet certain requirements, such as targets for revenues, or a certain percentage of the search market share, Yahoo can quit the deal. Microsoft must maintain an undisclosed percentage of Google’s advertising revenue, whilst also staying on a search query percentage. If either of these particulars falls below the requirements, Yahoo has the right to quit the deal immediately.

Last week it emerged that Yahoo, who have struggled in the past years to make profit, had signed a deal with Microsoft to allow the latter’s Bing search engine to dominate Yahoo’s website. Receiving $50m for the first three years, Yahoo will additionally receive 88per cent of Bing induced revenues on its own web pages for the first five years. Thereafter they will receive between 83per cent to 93per cent until the deal concludes in a decade. With Microsoft hiring approximately 400 Yahoo employees, it is hoped that the union of the two companies can take on leading competitor Google.

Google currently have a 65per cent market share for the search engine sector.