Sunnyvale, California — Few months back, Yahoo unveiled a number of mobile products and services such as: oneConnect, oneSearch, mobile web and few others. Also, the web pioneer earlier this year launched Yahoo Mobile in an attempt to harmonize the mobile user experience. But recently Yahoo said it will discontinue development on its mobile application for the Blackberry in favor of the iPhone.
Yahoo Mobile was unveiled in three versions earlier this year: an application for the iPhone, a browser version and an application that ran across hundreds of smartphones, said Adam Taggart, head of product marketing for Yahoo’s mobile group.
After carrying out a beta test of the smartphone application, Yahoo has decided to discontinue its mobile app for the Blackberry and other smartphones in order to focus exclusively on its recently relaunched iPhone app.
“Instead of launching an all-in-one app for general smart phones, what we will do is continue focusing on the browser version and the iPhone app,” he said. “We found that most smartphones have great browsers these days, and so we are finding that the experience we are able to provide in the browser is similar to the experience in an app.”
People applying for the beta-test of the smartphone app received an e-mail stating that: “Yahoo! has decided to cease development of the Yahoo! Mobile smartphone app effective Wednesday, May 20th. So you will not be provided access to the beta program for this product. For the time being, we will be focusing our efforts on the newly-launched Yahoo! Mobile experience for browsers (available at new.m.yahoo.com) and for the iPhone (available via the Apple App Store),” reports TechCrunch.
Yahoo Mobile is a single page that was improved for the iPhone in April, and connects users to services such as email, mobile search, IM, social messaging streams, and personalized Yahoo content such as news, sports, stocks, and RSS feeds.
Instead of continue to develop and support the smartphone application, Yahoo will concentrate on building vertical applications for specific platforms, including BlackBerry and “most likely” Android, Taggart said. “When you have finite resources, you want to say, ‘Where can I give the biggest bang for the buck?’” he said.
For example, a smartphone user might gain access to Yahoo Mobile through the browser, but download a specific application for following fantasy sports that offers more than a browser application would, he said.
TechCruch proposes standardizing the mobile browser platform makes economic sense. However, Yahoo has stated that it will develop applications for other platforms once there is higher demand.
We very much want to thank you for your interest in being a beta tester. The response we received during these programs is extremely helpful in improving the customer experience across all of Yahoo!s mobile products.
Meanwhile, stay connected for more exciting new mobile product releases from Yahoo!. Theres a lot coming and we want to hear your feedback!
Many thanks,
The Yahoo! Mobile team