January 6, 2008

Yahoo Opens Up Its Mobile Platform To Third Parties

Michael Arrington

14 comments »

There are two ways for services to get themselves onto mobile devices. They either talk users into accessing limited functionality by browsing to their website, or they get their software (usually Java based) onto the phone somehow. And since the carriers still control every aspect of the mobile experience, getting that software onto a phone without their consent is difficult.

Google has experimented with it, as has Yahoo through their Go application. Get it on your phone somehow, and you can browse through various widgets - travel, weather, news, etc. Some consumers have gone to the trouble of downloading Google, Yahoo and others’ software on their phone. But now, third parties won’t have to jump over this hurdle. They can simply piggyback on Yahoo’s already installed software.

They’re relaunching the platform tomorrow. In addition to generic “improved performance,” for the first time third parties will be able to add their own software to the platform. It’s an open environment, meaning anyone can create a widget for Yahoo Go. Users will find them on Yahoo’s mobile site and can add them to their phone.

A software development kit for developers will be made available in the coming weeks, Yahoo says. Until then, users can add pre-made widgets from eBay, MySpace and MTV.

The Yahoo Mobile team has been chatting about this off record for almost a year now. We first expected to see it launch last Spring, but it never came. But they’ve finally got it out the door.

The Yahoo Mobile home page is also being relaunched tomorrow.

Sphere It

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

isedb.com

January 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Yahoo’s oneConnect: One Mobile App to Rule Them All

February 19th, 2008 at 11:56 pm

Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sunil Jagadish

January 6th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

“Go application” - broken link folks!
Right one is - http://mobile.yahoo.com/go
plop33

January 6th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

yea but does it even give them a link back? all these companies open their systems up waiting for us app devs to build apps for them (because they cant be arsed to pay for them) then they wont even link to your app once you’ve made it.

Nice 1 way street that!
Technicle

January 6th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

Opening up is certainly the continuing trend in 2008… good that Yahoo is still keeping up — while catching up.
Jeff Tupholme

January 7th, 2008 at 2:36 am

When you say “There are two ways for services to get themselves onto mobile devices” you’re ignoring the messaging angle. Granted it also suffers from limited functionality, but it’s more standardised across carriers and indeed around the world than even the mobile Web. There are several startups in the US and Europe who are taking the messaging line, aware that it’s the most familiar of all data services for the vast majority of users.
micfo.com

January 7th, 2008 at 3:45 am

So it would be one of the competitor for google mobile!
Ken Berger

January 7th, 2008 at 6:08 am

i’ve found Go to be lackluster so far, but this move is GENIUS.
Proximity Match

January 7th, 2008 at 7:52 am

I agree with Ken. I too have tried Yahoo Go and have found it limiting. The move is in line with what my company, Proximity Match has built and will launch in beta soon. Knowing Yahoo’s track record they will limit it to only benefit them and the content they think you should see.
Greg Harris

January 7th, 2008 at 8:12 am

Installing apps on the phone will never be the answer. Those of us who have tried realized very quickly the difficulties in dealing with all the handsets, and operating systems.

The mobile web will be where the apps will live. It’s happening on the Internet, and we will take that lesson to the mobile world.

As new browsers like the iPhone and others begin to show up, there will be no reason to write phone specific apps unless they need deep interaction with the OS for bluetooth, LBS, or other functions.

Rather than building a framework for Yahoo, Plusmo, Google or someone else, why not build a browser with that framework?

Maintaining downloadable software is a nightmare. Let’s see what Yahoo has come up with.
JimC

January 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am

Y! keeps re-launching!

How many times?
LouN

January 7th, 2008 at 11:37 am

Do they use SyncML? If so will they let SyncML compatible devices sync with yahoo now? Or is that already possible and I missed it?
rose

January 7th, 2008 at 10:36 pm

http://www.bywifi.com is another mobile website. It provides searching, saving and realtime transcoding 3GP video services for mobile phones. It also optimizes Web pages for mobile phones, providing a richer browsing experience.

It is the first in the world to launch the 3gp realtime transcoding service for internet video websites, such as youtube.com. bywifi.com is different with other competitors in that we provide realtime transcoding for both video and web pages.
Shai Berger

January 8th, 2008 at 10:39 am

Although this seems watered-down compared to Google’s Android, but it may a smarter move because it allows a broader range of developers to develop apps for a broader range of devices, and starting right now.

Plus they’re allowing developers to include display ads and sponsored search in their widgets so that they can earn money.

So this is a platform that allows for rapid iterations of mobile apps along two critical axes: features and ad model, with low barrier to entry and compatibility with a large installed base. Yahoo knows that the next Twitter is more likely to come from an unknown developer than inside a corporate R&D group.

More: http://www.shaiberger.com/?p=51