Sterne Agee: Apple-Yahoo alliance would feel lucky

“Press reports indicate that Apple is in discussions to broaden its partnership with Yahoo in providing more content on iOS,” Sterne, Agee & Leach analyst Shaw Wu writes for Barron’s. “Yahoo already provides data for stocks and weather apps and parts of Apple’s Siri function. We believe this makes sense for both Apple and Yahoo as they battle a common competitor in Google.”

“We believe progress is worth watching as industry data have shown that iOS is by far the best platform for mobile monetization. This could become an issue for Google as its ties with Apple are cut,” Wu writes. “Yahoo has somewhat become the ‘Switzerland’ of Internet companies and an ideal partner for Apple as it isn’t in the mobile-devices business and doesn’t own a mobile device OS, popular Web browser, or social network.”

Wu writes, “Despite Android’s much larger market share than iOS at 70% versus 22% of global smartphone shipments, iOS is the best platform for monetization. The reason is likely because iOS accounts for 42% of mobile traffic versus 31% for Android and 51% share in revenue versus 30% for Android… We continue to believe that Apple is positioned to outperform in this tough macroeconomic environment with its defendable strategic and structural advantages and its vertical integration.”

Read more in the full article here.

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