Yandex

Yandex is probably the biggest search engine few people have ever heard of.

The Russian search engine has surpassed Microsoft's Bing in the world's top search engine rankings, according to Search Engine Watch, which got its data from ComScore.

Coming in first place is Google with 114.7 billion search queries and 65.2 percent of the market share. China's Baidu ranked second with 14.5 billion queries and 8.2 percent share. Third was Yahoo with 8.6 billion queries and 4.9 percent share. And, fourth was Yandex with 4.8 billion queries and 2.… Read more

Google Play will soon have another competitor.

Russian search engine Yandex announced today that it will soon launch an "alternative" application marketplace for Android users. Dubbed Yandex.Store, the marketplace will offer nearly 40,000 applications and allow vendors to bundle another app store into their devices.

Yandex.Store is also a white-box offering, meaning vendors can place their own branding on top of it. According to Yandex, Russian carrier MegaFon has already signed on to the service.

As with other application stores, Yandex's option takes 30 percent of the revenue generated from apps. In addition, Yandex.… Read more

Although Google has been kicked out of iOS 6, at least one of its competitors has actually been invited to the platform.

Yandex, Russia's Google equivalent, is powering aspects of Apple's iOS 6 mapping feature, Maps, TechCrunch is reporting today, citing sources. According to the blog, when users search for details in Maps, Yandex's application programming interface built into the feature will offer up information on local restaurants, shops, and other locales.

The Yandex integration was discovered in the Gold Master version of Russia's iOS 6. AppleInsider in Russia was first to discover the feature.

Apple introduced its new Maps in iOS 6. … Read more

When the next version of Firefox hits the streets in Russia, Google -- and not Russia's own Yandex -- will be the default search engine.

That's according to The Next Web, which speculates that though Yandex enjoys a 60 percent share of Russia's search market compared with Google's approximately 26.5 percent, Google may be leveraging its support of Firefox maker Mozilla to convince the company to give it top billing in Firefox version 14.

Google and Firefox struck a three-year deal in December that set Google as the default Firefox search engine outside Russia. Financial … Read more

A new Web site is offering 10GB of online storage for free. The catch? It's only in Russian...at least for now.

Launching today as a beta version, Yandex.Disk (English translation) is the latest in a growing lineup of cloud storage sites, letting people store files online and access them from computers, tablets, and smartphones.

Files stored locally and online can be synchronized among multiple devices to ensure that the versions stay consistent. So the same document you save on your desktop PC can be accessed and edited on your mobile device. You can view and launch your … Read more

After a strong debut on the Nasdaq yesterday, Russia's most popular search engine, Yandex, is seeing its shares slide in its second day of trading.

Yesterday, Yandex, which attracted 38.3 million unique users in March and secured 64 percent of all Russian search traffic, priced its initial public offering at $25 per share. Almost immediately, the company's shares soared, and continued to rise throughout the day. At the close of trading yesterday, Yandex shares settled at $37.75 after reaching a high of more than $42.

The company's success in its first day of trading helped … Read more

Yandex, the Russian search engine that along with China's Baidu is demonstrating Google doesn't have a total lock on search, reported that its 2010 revenue increased 43 percent year over year to 12.5 billion rubles, or about $420 million.

The company made 88 percent of its 2010 revenue from contextual ads, which by its definition include those shown next to search results, the company said yesterday. The company has more than 180,000 advertisers.

The revenue figures exclude commissions paid to partners, the company said. Yandex, a privately held company, didn't release information about its profitability. … Read more

Russian-language Firefox users will see a new default search provider soon: Google rival Yandex.

Mozilla currently has Google set to be the default search engine in Russian Firefox, but it concluded that Yandex was the better choice, according to a blog post by Mozilla General Counsel Harvey Anderson on Friday.

"Over the past few months, we have listened to feedback, talked with our localizers, studied the trends of our Firefox Yandex builds, and reviewed the Yandex user experience. All this activity led us to the conclusion that our Russian users really wanted direct access to the Yandex search services … Read more

Russia's largest search site, Yandex, announced today that it acquired Mediaselling, an online display ad agency, for an undisclosed amount in an attempt to bolster its advertising initiatives and establish itself as Google and others try to create a foothold in the country.

Yandex, which recently postponed (Google Translation warning) its plans for an IPO, will allow Mediaselling to continue to operate as an independent entity for a short while, but the advertising firm will eventually become a part of Yandex, according to Mediaselling CEO Lev Gleyzer.

"I have good news," Gleyzer wrote in a blog post. &… Read more