Friendster has over 90 million registered users, and about 90 percent of its daily traffic comes from Southeast Asia, so the arrangement is a rather significant deal.  Yahoo stands to benefit as Friendster is putting ads for Yahoo services all over users’ homepages and profile pages.  Then Yahoo will receive some additional exposure when Friendster incorporates its search results.

As for what Friendster gets out of the equation, a Friendster application has already been granted a spot on the Yahoo homepages in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.  Plus, Friendster users are supposed to obtain the option to link a Friendster account to a Yahoo account.

Both sides seem more than pleased about the arrangement.  Ken Mandel, the vice president and managing director of Yahoo Southeast Asia, said in a statement, "Working together with Friendster ensures Yahoo! remains relevant to people by offering the best online content and experiences."

He then added, "This is a major milestone in the Yahoo! Open Strategy, our combined services will enrich the online environment allowing people to get more done faster and in a single place."

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Just last week, Google China’s Kai-Fu Lee announced his interest in mobile matters; he believes they offer access to a wider audience than computers.  Sam McDonagh, the director of eBay Southeast Asia, might agree; he told Isabelle Chan, “The great thing about mobile is it provides folks with busy lifestyles a convenient way to buy and sell while they are on the go.  As technology continues to evolve, the ability to transact over the mobile phones will improve.”

Lee’s statement did relate to China, though, whereas McDonagh is more focused on that country’s southern neighbors.  “We’re very optimistic about the growth of the market, and it is not just Singapore but the Southeast Asia region,” he said.

eBay doesn’t compete directly with either Google or Yahoo, of course, but it might nonetheless manage to “beat” both companies in Singapore; Google only opened its first office in Singapore five months ago.  Of course, if eBay doesn’t do so well, we’ll have to wonder if it should have mimicked Google and Yahoo by focusing on a country like Korea.