Yahoo!’s Long-Term Strategy: Diversify - Yahoo Takes Search on the Road – and Other Places

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Yahoo isn’t the only company offering a search feature that lets users get information from their mobile phones. But it’s been actively expanding the feature, while keeping in mind the inherent limitations of the medium as compared to conducting searches in front of a desktop or laptop computer. For example, shortcuts on the phone’s keypad make it quicker to get specific kinds of information. A user of Yahoo’s recently-updated SMS service could type in “w” and the ZIP code to get a short weather forecast for that area – which is a very handy feature for travelers and those who live in places where the weather can change quickly, such as South Florida during the rainy season.

Yahoo may have done Google one better with this service, in that users can reply to the answers they get for more information and results. Items such as stock quotes and addresses are also available through the service. Users can also save responses and send repeated replies – for example, if they wish to receive daily stock quotes for a particular company. Best of all, Yahoo’s mobile phone Web search is now available with any WAP-based phone. Yahoo’s partners for the SMS-based service include Cingular, Sprint, and Verizon; for the browser-based Web search services, partners include Cingular, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Yahoo has also upgraded its Yahoo! Messenger service. The company has turned it into an expanded communications tool by adding the ability to make PC-to-PC calls worldwide, and allowing users to leave voicemail messages. Users can also share photos and transfer files more easily than before. The upgrade also boasts enhanced spam protection to combat the growing problem of harmful instant messages sent by spammers.

Another neat feature of the upgraded Yahoo! Messenger service is the ability to perform Web searches right within the message window. Users can save the URLs from these searches directly from the window to their personal My Web page – something I’ve wished I could do more than once during instant messaging conversations. Users will also be able to previous IM interactions from the message window, which will hopefully assist clear communications (especially among those with short memories).

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Comments On: Yahoo!’s Long-Term Strategy: Diversify

· I still like Google very much, but it looks as if Yahoo is preparing to win out in...    · All the leading global internet companies are at war! Be it yahoo with google,...    · Amen to that! :-)    · Thanks Terri, this is yet another great article. I did notice that the tide may be...    · It's very hard to say with MSN. I think what happened is that Microsoft got caught...    · looks like you were wrong... lol. what a difference 4 years makes    · LOL indeed! That's one of the hazards of being an online analyst...everything you...   >>> Post your comment now!