Spokespersons for Yahoo and Google declined to comment.
Apple did not return a request for comment.
Of the Silicon Valley tech giants, Yahoo is behind in generating money from mobile revenue.
By contrast, Facebook makes 53 percent of its advertising revenue on mobile.
The report comes one day after Yahooannounced first quarter earningsfor 2014.
Soon after, Tim Cook issued an apology to users.
“They will probably be more gun shy over it,” he said.
“Google has all those resources,” Jones said.
Either side could venture to use Yahoo’s bidding as leverage.
For Apple, its threatening to downgrade Google’s search presence on iPhones and iPads.
“Each side could make a run at sweeten the pot,” said Jones.
