Yahoo wants to be centerpiece for consumers’ mobile lives: 360i exec
April 2, 2009
Yahoo's mobile one-stop-shop
Yahoo announced the availability of Yahoo Mobile on both the mobile Web and as an iPhone application, allowing consumers to discover, stay connected and informed through their mobile devices.
Additionally, the company will preview the soon-to-be-launched Yahoo Messenger application for the iPhone. Yahoo Mobile for the Web is now available across more than 300 devices with HTML-enabled mobile browsers by visiting http://new.m.yahoo.com.
"The strategy is unity and simplicity. It's funny that Yahoo's services were previously called ‘One-something' as in OneSearch, OnePlace, and OneConnect," said David Berkowitz, director of emerging media and client strategy at digital agency 360i, New York. "Now there's just one mobile service, and it's called Yahoo.
"Really, if they released many more ‘Ones,' we'd run out of fingers to count them on," he said.
Yahoo Mobile offers an open environment within which consumers can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet.
Consumers can now make their Internet experience on mobile personally relevant through the ability to:
• Discover: via results from Yahoo's mobile search and editor-selected content
• Stay Connected through access to email and social network accounts and instant messaging, address book and calendar tools
• Stay Informed by bringing together favorite content -- Web sites, sports teams, news sources, RSS feeds, weather, stocks and horoscopes -- into a single location
"Yahoo has a lot of challenges in mobile, from the iPhone prominently featuring Google search to Google Android rapidly gaining mobile market share," Mr. Berkowitz said. "Yahoo needs to show its users that it's the best and easiest service out there.
"The mobile field is still young, but a lot of the land grab is underway," he said. "It's also likely going to be harder to upend consumer mobile habits once they're ingrained than it has been on the Web, given that consumers want to do as little work as possible on mobile devices to get the information and content they want.
"Yahoo can't afford to fall behind in mobile."
Yahoo Messenger for the iPhone features include the ability to send and receive instant messages, exchange photos, add contacts, change status, send emoticons and stay logged in an idle state when using other applications on the iPhone.
In addition to this standalone iPhone application, Yahoo Messenger is also available within Yahoo Mobile (both for the Web and iPhone) and as an application on several other types of mobile devices from leading manufacturers.
Yahoo Mobile for Web will feature display advertising from leading brands, allowing consumers to interact with these rich media ads through functions such as send to a friend, locate a dealer, clicking to call the advertiser directly or the ability to learn more information about the advertiser's offer.
With some of the highest quality inventory available and a highly-engaged user base, Yahoo is focused on creating scale for advertisers by helping them reach their targeted audience wherever they are.
Yahoo's trying to be the centerpiece for consumers' mobile lives," Mr. Berkowitz said. "It has enough of the assets -- mail, IM, search, Flickr, news, stocks, weather and most kinds of content, information, and services that people use on a regular basis.
"Yahoo arguably has the greatest traction in the largest number of those areas," he said. "Plus, Yahoo can tie it all back to its strong Web presence and potentially its emerging interactive TV services.
"If one's mobile device becomes a concierge, communication portal, and remote control, then Yahoo's hub has a shot at connecting it all for consumers."
Mobile Marketer's Giselle Abramovich also interviewed Zealous Wiley, senior manager of public relations for Yahoo Mobile. Here is what he had to say:
What is the strategy behind all these announcements?
Yahoo!'s strategy is to transform the mobile phone by combining a great user interface with the ability for the user to create their own starting point "which enables them to discover, stay connected and informed. Users can integrate communication services from various providers and customize the Internet content to define their Internet experience on mobile devices.
How do they fit into Yahoo's mobile strategy?
Yahoo!'s mobile strategy focuses on reaching a wide breadth of mobile devices with Yahoo! Mobile products. Today we have announced availability to more than 300 hundred devices, which will reach millions of consumers. Yahoo! will continue to aggressively expand that reach as we unroll the product globally.
Why do all this?
To further capitalize on the market potential and continue our mobile leadership, we created Yahoo! Mobile, a dynamic starting point enabling consumers to discover the world around them, stay connected through a variety of communication services, and customize content to define their Internet experience on mobile devices.
How is mobile changing people's lives?
Mobile is changing people's lives by allowing them to better discover information, stay connected.