Yandex is now stepping further into the mobile space with the acquisition of developer SPB Software. The move is centered around the popular SPB Shell 3D skin for Android, Symbian, and Windows Mobile, with Yandex planning to use the UI "to integrate Yandex's cloud services and technologies." The company recently partnered with Microsoft, Nokia, HTC, and Samsung to make it the default search engine on Windows Phone 7 devices shipping in Russia, with Yandex pledging to use the acquisition to "provide easy access to the company's services on a broad number of mobile devices.

As Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, the acquisition and extension of the company is no threat to its significant long-time members of staff. Vice President of SPB Software, Olga Steidl, has confirmed that the company's founder – Sebastian-Justus Schmidt as well as its top experts Vasily Filippov and Yaroslav Goncharov, will continue working at Yandex.

As for SPB Software, it develops applications for the Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry, WebOS, Maemo and Bada mobile platforms. T he company has created the SPB Shell 3-D, an interface for smart phones and tablets. This application is the most interesting SPB Software product for Yandex. “We need it to significantly increase our mobile presence,” Yandex General Director Arkady Volozh said. Now, Yandex will be able to provide vendors with an important component to any mobile platform: an interface that includes access to key services.

Given its global role, Yandex has been repeatedly reproached by Western investment banks for not having a clear mobile device strategy. They have advised Yandex to create its own operating system and even release a Yandex smart phone.

Indeed, although still dominant, Yandex has begun to lose ground in the Russian Internet search engine market due to the growing popularity of competitor interfaces like the Android OS and Google’s Chrome browser.

The purchase of SPB Software does not mean that Yandex will immediately start developing its own operating system for smart phones, a Yandex representative said, but it gives the company an opportunity to do so, if needed. So far, the deal stipulates that Yandex will become the developer of the shell application for mobile operating systems, he added.

Yandex’s goal to create its own operating system using SPB Software alone is not enough, noted Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Yandex’ Mobile Research Group. Mobile technology expert Alex Patsay, former business director for application developer Unreal Mojo, said that in his view Yandex appears to be planning to release a smart phone to incorporate the SPB Software as an interface shell.

Until Yandex has an operating system for mobile devices, the company can “impose” any shell it wants. For example, it can use Android, because Android source code is distributed free of charge and Google does not regulate developers’ use of the OS if it doesn’t use Google services, Patsay added. Yandex already uses a product that is based on the browser Chromium, which was built by its rival, Google.

According to Patsay, further development of an Android smart phone that uses the SPB shell could cost between $50-100 million. What's more, creating an entirely new operating system capable of competing with Android could cost anywhere from $100-200 million, Murtazin said, adding that Yandex may promote its operating system in local markets, where its services are already popular.

Aside from pure commerce, the acquisition is a move to bolster the image of both Yandex and the fast-developing Russian companies, both long-time operators and startups. The proof is quite a few  forums, seminars and workshops Moscow alone has hosted this year and plans to  hold many new ones in the coming years.

(VOR)