Yahoo! Launches App while eBay Updates Theirs

By SRASC at 18 February, 2009, 11:36 am

Yahoo! today announced the upcoming launch of its new Yahoo! Mobile service - a highly-personalized mobile starting point to the Internet. Yahoo! Mobile will be available on the mobile Web, as an app developed for the Apple iPhone, and as an app developed for smartphones from Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola as well as those powered by Windows Mobile. Yahoo! Mobile initially will be available today through a managed beta program, with general availability expected in Q2 2009.

“We believe the new Yahoo! Mobile will transform the way millions of mobile users around the world will interact with the Internet,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Yahoo! Inc. “Yahoo! Mobile will enable users to create their own Internet starting point on their mobile device so they can better discover, connect to and stay informed about the people and things that are important to them.”

With a rich design and interactivity that leverages the capabilities of today’s mobile devices, Yahoo! Mobile will offer an open environment within which consumers can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet.

Consumers will be able to

- Discover: via results from Yahoo!’s award-winning mobile search, editor-selected content, and new maps tools.
- Stay Connected: through access to their email and social network accounts from the most popular Web providers, as well as instant messaging, address book and calendar tools.
- Stay Informed: by bringing together favorite content - websites, sports teams, news sources, RSS feeds, weather, stocks, horoscopes and more - into a single location.

“Yahoo! Mobile represents significant and continued innovation by Yahoo! around creating a compelling and engaging user experience with mobile data services, and especially the mobile Internet,” notes Scott Ellison, VP Mobile and Wireless, IDC. “Rich and well-integrated offerings like Yahoo! Mobile, offered across a broad range of devices, will play central roles in the rapidly evolving mobile Internet space,” he added.

KEY FEATURES OF YAHOO! MOBILE
The mobile Web and iPhone™ versions of Yahoo! Mobile are planned to include the following features:

Discover
- Yahoo! oneSearch™ - Yahoo!’s award-winning mobile search service providing the most current, relevant answers you need.
- Today - The most interesting stories buzzing on the Internet right now, selected by Yahoo!’s editorial team.

Connect
- Yahoo! oneConnect™ - Yahoo!’s service designed to provide consumers everything they need to stay in touch with the people about whom they care:
- Email - Access to Yahoo! Mail and other popular email service providers, including Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and AOL Mail.
- Pulse - Access totheir social networks, including Bebo, Dopplr, Facebook, Flickr, Friendster, Last.fm, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.
- Yahoo! Messenger - An upgraded version of Yahoo!’s popular mobile instant messaging service.
- Yahoo! Address Book - Keeps consumers’ contacts always handy and in sync.
- Yahoo! Calendar - View, add and edit appointments when users are away from their PCs.

Stay Informed
- Yahoo! News - Breaking headlines across popular topics.
- Yahoo! onePlace™ - Access and manage your favorite content, all from one location. Its “Add Anything” functionality is a simple-to-use search and browse process that helps users find and add what they want. Consumers can add their favorite interests from a growing selection of popular categories including news topics and sources, RSS feeds, weather conditions, sports scores, stock quotes, websites/blogs, horoscopes and movie theaters.

The smartphone version of Yahoo! Mobile will include the above functionality, plus:
- Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice™ - Allowing users to launch searches by simply speaking.
- Maps - Powerful improved tools that let consumers locate, learn about and get directions to points of interest.
- Opera Mini™ 4.2 - An integrated version of the world’s most popular mobile web browser, with easy return to the Yahoo! Mobile app, that launches when web site access is needed.
- Widgets - Enhanced mobile-optimized experiences for services from Yahoo! and other brands. Users can browse, add and remove these at anytime according to their tastes.

AVAILABILITY OF YAHOO! MOBILE
A managed beta program for Yahoo! Mobile has started today. Consumers interested in participating should enter http://mobile.yahoo.com into their phone’s browser.

Details on the upcoming general public release for Yahoo! Mobile are as follows:

For the mobile Web:
- Launch timing: expected late March 2009
- Devices: those running WebKit-based browsers (e.g. iPhone and iPod touch, many Nokia Series 60 and Android devices), Opera Mini 4.x, Windows Mobile devices with Internet Explorer Mobile, and the BlackBerry® Bold™ and BlackBerry Storm™ browsers

For iPhone:
- Launch timing: expected late March 2009

For smartphones:
- Launch timing: expected late May 2009
- Devices: hundreds of select models from RIM, Windows Mobile, Nokia S60 and 40, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

At launch, each version of Yahoo! Mobile is planned to be available for the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Versions for other countries will roll out over the remainder of 2009.

The eBay Application for the iPhone/iPod Touch got a major update today. It now supports messaging, a key feature that was missing from the previous version. The update did refresh the look a bit, with a new Home Screen Appearance and update some of the previous buttons.

Now eBay buyers and sellers have The World’s Online Marketplace at their fingertips, wherever they go. The new eBay application for the iPhone is specially designed to run natively on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Using a streamlined interface that’s as elegant as it is practical; eBay members can search, bid, and check their activity on the go. Buyers can sneak in that last-minute bid on a hard to-find item, sellers can check on their sales, and everyone can act on time- sensitive information on the spot without a computer eBay is now open for business anytime, anywhere on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

What’s new in this version?
- Messaging
- Updated home screen appearance
- Added “Hot items” to the home screen, graphically summarizing recent, favorite, and popular searches
- New View item Action Toolbar for easier watching and bidding
- Improved item status display
- Added max distance and price range refinements to search
- Added eBay Motors as a top-level category (United States only)