Firefox Screams Yahoo! As Mozilla Fires Google

Mozilla, parent company of the Firefox web browser, announced on Wednesday that they will be replacing Google as their default search engine with Yahoo! The change occurs after Google has served as the default search engine for ten years. The change is expected to dramatically affect Yahoo!’s search market share.

The partnership between Mozilla Firefox and Yahoo! is contracted to last a minimum of five years and will begin in December 2014. The change will take place nearly six months after Firefox announced its simplistic redesign of their browser. The financial agreement between Mozilla Firefox and Yahoo! has not been released, however they have released that there will be a profit sharing agreement between the two. The inclusion of the Yahoo! search engine will impact both PC and mobile devices, according to Reuters.

The decision to abandon Google and adopt Yahoo! as the default search engine is an attempt to provide a local search atmosphere, rather than the global approach that Google utilized, said Chris Beard of Mozilla.

“We are ending our practice of having a single global default search provider. We are adopting a more local and flexible approach to increase choice and innovation on the Web, with new and expanded search partnerships by country.”

Mozilla Firefox’s partnership with Yahoo! will not reach world wide, however. Mozilla plans to integrate Yandex in Russia and keep Baidu in China, due to their tailored local flavor to each region.

Although Mozila Firefox plans to change the default search engine to Yahoo!, users will still have the ability to change to their favorite option. As part of the change, the Yahoo! search engine is expected to be re-imagined with a new design and overall experience. Chris Beard expressed his excitement.

“We are excited to partner with Yahoo! to bring a new, re-imagined Yahoo! search experience to Firefox users in the US featuring the best of the Web, and to explore new innovative search and content experiences together.”

Yahoo!’s new look is expected to make use of rich graphics and photos during the Mozilla Firefox partnership. As required by their 10-year partnership, the web-search results will still be powered by Microsoft.

Marissa Mayer, chief of Yahoo!, is proud of the partnership.

“We’re so proud that they’ve chosen us as their long-term partner in search, and I can’t wait to see what innovations we build together. We believe deeply in search — it’s an area of investment, opportunity and growth for us.”

[Photo Courtesy: Techaeris]