You might have heard some rumours in the last few days about Nokia and Yahoo! joining forces, and now we have the official story!

Nokia Ovi and Yahoo! both to provide great services, but you have got to give Yahoo the credit when it comes  to their e-mail, they have done it for years and with Nokia’s acquisition of Navteq in late 2007, the maps they have are excellent, so by working together to bring things like “Ovi Mail – Powered by Yahoo!” (including chat) and “Yahoo Maps – Powered by Ovi”, you the users will get the best of both worlds and hopefully the ultimate experience when it comes to the services they both provide on Mobile and desktop.

In time we should also see a simplified sign in process as Nokia have already started with the Ovi services they provide, meaning less usernames and passwords to remember which will be nice (maybe something similar to the Microsoft Passport Network / Windows Live ID system).

Nokia & Yahoo! CEO's

Nokia & Yahoo! CEO's

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia had this to say about the announcement:

“We’re enabling millions of Yahoo! customers in key markets including North America to discover the unique capabilities that Ovi Maps brings. 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.”

Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo! joined OPK in his enthusiasm:

“We’re excited to expand the reach of our best-in-class Mail and Messenger services, bringing personalized experiences to more people across the mobile Web, particularly in emerging markets where we are seeding the next generation of Yahoo! users. At the same time, we believe Nokia’s strength and continued investment in maps and navigation will greatly enhance our existing products, enabling us to focus on areas that are core to our business.”

Nokia and Yahoo!'s Statistics (thanks to Rafe Blandford from allaboutsymbian.com for this illustration)