Google, flying high

Google has just licensed its Gmail back-end to KDDI, Japan's second largest mobile operator behind DoCoMo.

According to TechCrunch, Japanese clients will get the same functionality as Gmail users, down to the 2+ GB of storage.

This just one effort in a string of friendly outreaches Google has made to increase marketshare in Asian countries. In China, for example, Google licensed its search technology to a few Chinese search portals.

Japan's third biggest mobile operator, Softbank, owns Yahoo Japan. Though it isn't as strong in search, it leads Google in other services, such as email, in the country.