Webwag, the start page provider competing with the likes of Netvibes and iGoogle, is announcing a partnership with SFR, one of the largest wireless providers in France. The announcement is expected to take place on Wednesday. From the looks of it, SFR will be providing monetary support to Webwag, and aid greatly in the implementation of its mobile widget offering.
Part of the deal entails that SFR will allow its subscribers to use webwag for free, as well as synchronizing the web-based startpage to the mobile widget without accruing any data fees. Why can't more companies in the US convince AT&T or Verizon to do this?
At any rate, this level of "undercutting" may be in an effort to give SFR a leg up against Orange, the dominate wireless provider in Europe. Several wireless providers, like Virgin, are moving to offer access to established web networks from their mobile devices as a way to remain competitive and retain more users. Webwag just launched its mobile widgets earlier this summer. See here for previous coverage.