Yahoo! scores HP love-in

Yahoo! has announced a deal with HP whereby the company's search engine and other services will appear on all HP consumer systems sold in Europe and the US.

Although the deal focuses on consumers, a spokesman for Yahoo! confirmed it has its eyes on business too. He said: "There are no specific plans to go to business as yet but it's something we're looking into."

As of today, all new HP desktops and laptops will have Yahoo! as the default search service in Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser, which is pre-installed on the machines. HP users will also have instant access to Yahoo! search, email, news and finance services.

Earlier this month Yahoo! signed a similar partnership with PC maker Acer.

Yahoo! rival Google has also inked a string of deals recently to feature its search and other online services with computer makers such as Dell and with software companies such as Adobe Systems, which will sport the Google toolbar on all their software.

Financial terms of the Yahoo!-HP deal were not disclosed.