OREANDA-NEWS. October 17, 2011. Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX) and Samsung today have announced a strategic partnership in the CIS countries. Samsung Smart TV in these countries now features Yandex’s TV widget with access to the company’s online services. Samsung’s Smart TV for users in the CIS now has Yandex as the default search engine with the portal’s front page set up as the default homepage. Additionally, Yandex’s services will also be available on bada 2.0 powered smartphones in the near future.

“This partnership between two market leaders, Samsung and Yandex, will be beneficial to the consumer who will benefit from a new level of helpful services in smart devices from Samsung”, said Sergey Pevnev, Marketing Director for the CIS countries at Samsung Electronics. “Yandex’s apps for Samsung Smart TV and bada-powered mobile phones help users to quickly find and receive the latest information and stay updated on recent news and events.”

The widget for Smart TV offers access to all services available on Yandex’s front page, including Yandex.Traffic, Yandex.Afisha, Yandex.News and Yandex.TV. Continually updated information, such as currency exchange rates, road conditions, news or movie listings can now be viewed directly on the TV screen, during commercial breaks, for instance. All services offer information based on the user’s location and are adapted for viewing on a TV screen.

“The time when the computer was the only device for browsing the internet is long past. Web services and applications are now available on various mobile devices, smartphones and game consoles. Together with the Samsung team, we are continuing to evaluate what services are appropriate for each device to provide an optimal experience for the user,” said Elena Dobrokhotova, Director of Operational Marketing at Yandex.