Graeme Wearden
Mobile phone maker BenQ has secured an agreement that will allow it to pre-install a range of Google search applications on its handsets.
BenQ announced the deal at a press launch at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, where it also launched six new mobile phones.
Financial terms of the deal were not available, but a company representative did demonstrate Google Local running on one of its existing handsets, the EF81. The Google services were available through the phone's menu of options, so a user wouldn't need to use a handset that supported a full Web browser.
"It's the same applications as on your PC, but on a phone," said the BenQ representative, who showed that users would be able to call up maps of their locations and view them on their mobile.
BenQ couldn't say which other Google search features will be offered on its phones.
Mobile operators are increasingly looking to make these kind of alliances to expand the functionality of their devices. Earlier this month, Sony Ericsson said it was working with Google to integrate Google's Web search and Blogger features on its phone.
Last October, BenQ bought the mobile division of Siemens; today, in addition to the Google deal, it launched six new phones under the BenQ-Siemens brand. These include a Windows Mobile smartphone, the P51, which included a GPS receiver, Wi-Fi and VoIP functionality.
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