Yahoo! – The aviator

Finally, some positive signs from mobile.

• I have been concerned for some time about the lack of progress at Yahoo! (see here and here) but there have been some positive signs.
• Yahoo! acquired Aviate, a home screen curation app., last October and it is finally being made available to users.
• Now known as Yahoo! Aviate, the app. presents the user with a range of options for content and services based on his recent activities, current location and context.
• For example when the app. detects that the user is in a moving vehicle, a range of music and mapping options are presented.
• It provides news and weather apps. in the morning and productivity options while at work.
• At the moment Aviate is remaining completely agnostic but if Yahoo! wants to make the most of this functionality, it will have to be eventually migrated primarily to Yahoo! content and services.
• This may cause some problems as most acquired companies are promised autonomy these days but their parents will get no value out of them if they remain that way.
• Whats App and Facebook (see here) is a classic example.
• I am assuming that as time passes the requirement for autonomy will be carefully reeled in by Yahoo! and under that scenario Aviate could become a key app for Yahoo!
• For over a year, I have been waiting for Yahoo! to do something with its acquired assets and move its superb fixed Internet usage into mobile.
• Aviate could be the glue that places Yahoo!’s content and services at the front and centre of the user experience.
•  It is the first sign of a coherent move into mobile that I have seen.
• I hope that this is just the beginning.
• Putting all of the acquired services into mobile in a way that easy and fun to use could see usage and loyalty to Yahoo! properties increase.
• This would have a commensurate increase in revenues and profits over time.
• There remains a very long way to go before Yahoo! is in real contention as mobile ecosystem but taking action ahead of the Alibaba listing is a good idea.
• This should mean that there will already be some strategies in place to monetise mobile when investor attention returns to its languishing core businesses after the Alibaba IPO.
• Yahoo! remains my dark horse in the ecosystem space alongside Microsoft and Google.