Apple and Yahoo have been discussing the possibility of developing a stronger partnership, which could lead to Yahoo services taking a more prominent role on iPhone and iPad devices.
According to sources "briefed on the matter", Apple and Yahoo are talking about adding more Yahoo applications, such as Yahoo News, onto Apple mobile devices, reports The Wall Street Journal. The iPhone already arrives pre-loaded with Yahoo's finance and weather applications, but there's talk of adding extra Yahoo data to help power Apple's voice-activated Siri application.
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Both companies would appear to have plenty to gain by working together if recent developments are examined.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer (pictured), appointed in June last year, has previously spoken of her desire to shift the firm's focus towards mobile.
"Mobile represents not only a daily habit, but a fundamental and massive platform shift, a platform shift that we have to ride and participate in, in order to be relevant," she said while outlining Yahoo's strategy in October last year.
"Our top priority is a focused, coherent, mobile strategy. We're accelerating our efforts to build a strong technical talent base for mobile. This includes engineers, product managers and designers."
Mayer has also acknowledged that since Yahoo does not make mobile products, own a mobile operating system or operate a social network, the company needs a partnership to boost its number of service users.
Meanwhile, Apple is seemingly attempting to become less reliant on Google – its biggest rival in the mobile space – when it comes to the data behind its iPhone and iPad applications.
That strategy got off to a poor start last year when Apple Maps replaced Google Maps as the pre-installed maps application for iPhone. The software repeatedly came under fire from disgruntled users, with Apple Maps providing bad directions, geographical inaccuracies and failing even to acknowledge the existence of certain places.
Sources close to the two organisations say no deal is imminent, while Apple and Yahoo have both declined to comment.
