The next version of iOS could see Apple turn to web giant Yahoo for more services, according to reports on Wednesday.
A Wall Street Journal report claims that Apple is in discussions with the company over the integration of Yahoo Sports and Yahoo News among other services.
The company already provides the data for Apple's Weather, Stocks as well as powering the sports information for the Siri voice-controlled personal assistant (pictured).
The partnership could see deeper integration with Siri as well as baked-in apps on the iPhone and iPad .
Deeper Yahoo integration for iOS devices would also signal a furthering of Apple's desire to marginalise the use of Google services.
With iOS 6, the company ditched Google Maps and YouTube from the ecosystem, although they soon reemerged as standalone free apps, available from the App Store.
According to the WSJ report (subscription) the company will not go as far as ditching Google Search in favour of Yahoo for two reasons: The first is the obvious drop off in quality and the second is Yahoo's tight relationship with the Microsoft Bing engine.
Reports on Wednesday suggested that Google's position as a "common enemy" for Yahoo and Apple may assist the talks.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who recently drew headlines for curtailing employees' working from home privileges, sees mobile as a key means of revitalising the company, with Apple a crucial partner.
Whether the likes of Yahoo News and Yahoo Sports would be baked into iOS 7, a la Facebook and Twitter, remains to be seen, but its definitely something to look out for if the new OS is revealed at WWDC in June.
Recent indications are that Apple will be looking to shake things up on its mobile ecosystem, after Sir Jony Ive assumed leadership of the division late last year.
iOS has come under some criticism from users and rivals in recent weeks, with many suggesting the OS has become old and tired.
Via The Next Web
