The best-known web portal showed a new side this week: Yahoo got a facelift. The My Yahoo feature remains the same (though Mine is highly-customized), but the Yahoo homepage has a host of new features and beautiful new icon palette. Yahoo has firmly adopted a Web 2.0 approach, offering even more third-party functions and services.
This is exactly what Yahoo should have done a decade ago, but Until its recent deal with Microsoft, it really never had. Yahoo branched-out fast in the late 1990s, attempting to replicate every success online; Yahoo Auctions, Yahoo Wallet, Yahoo Geocities, Yahoo Internet Life magazine - Yahoo's approach was all over the map! The brand was diluted and revenue ceased.
The deal between Yahoo and Microsoft didn't bring Yahoo any cash right now, but Yahoo has needed to cut-back and refocus on its role for 10 years - literally. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said of the deal, "It's about relevancy," and Yahoo hasn't had much of that in years. While the new look is nice and clean, and it is more functional than the last incarnation, Yahoo is still behind the curve.
© C Harris Lynn, 2009
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