Verizon Wireless and Google are close to a deal in which Google will become the official search engine for all Verizon-powered cell phones.  The deal will give Google up to 68 million new users who will see the Google search engine on all home screens of Verizon phones.

Industry insiders expect an official announcement to be made within the next couple of weeks.

Under the deal, Verizon users would be able to download new ringtones and wallpapers, look for restaurants, and browse the Internet in a single location, which cannot currently be done.

Oddly enough, even though this announcement is on the horizon, Verizon and Google still have a bit of bad blood between them.  For example, every major U.S. carrier has expressed interest in having phones operating on the Google Android operating system, except for Verizon; with no indication Verizon will change its mind.

AT&T, the nation's biggest wireless phone carrier, partnered with Yahoo to use its MEdia Net search engine, which left Verizon Wireless, the second biggest wireless phone carrier, as its most lucrative option.  Besides that, Google also removes the risk of Verizon creating its own web browser to compete with Google and the AT&T/Yahoo alliance.

Verizon previously considered working with Microsoft, but it is unknown why that deal fell through.  Google also made an agreement with Sprint Nextel, so the Mountain View, CA-based company's search engine is the exclusive provider on 40 different Sprint phones.

Around 63 percent of mobile internet search users say they use Google, while Yahoo is in second place with 34 percent, and 25 percent use the built-in search features on their phone.

The mobile search advertising market will be valued in the $244 million ballpark for 2008, but analysts expect that number to steadily increase as cell phone owners continue to use their phones for more than just talking.  Google and Verizon will split revenue each time users search for something through mobile Google.

It has been an up and down battle for telecommunication companies who have spent the past couple of years denying they need help from Internet search engines to offer mobile search portals.  But the alliances reveal the telecom companies are conceding they need help while at the same time willing to give up some advertising revenue.