Actually, my main purpose of visiting CommunicAsia 2009 is to attend Yahoo! Mobile for Web and iPhone App Launch. Just a handful of bloggers were given the special attention, priviledges to come up close and personal with Yahoo! people to understand more about this Yahoo! Mobile (Brand new, not the old one) for Web and Applications designed for iPhone.
Before the event starts, we were able to mingle around with Yahoo! people to talk about our mobile browsing experience. The event started with Yahoo! giving us an insight their latest Yahoo! Mobile Web and iPhone Apps, followed by a demonstration on an actual iPhone.
We were all seated comfortably on sofas and drinking Yahoo! Slurpee. However, I must say that we were very attentive during the talk.
Many people (like me) will associate Yahoo! Mobile as the “old” Yahoo! Mobile. However, what was presented today was a brand new Yahoo! mobile website (and at this moment, only 17 countries have it. Singapore is of course one of them).
So, what is the differences in this New Yahoo! Mobile. Well, I have only one comment, “A hell lot of differences” and I am converted to use it everyday now! I am sure some of you can’t wait to see it for yourself. Here is the URL for Singapore.
http://sg.new.m.yahoo.com
For Malaysia, it should be: –
http://my.new.m.yahoo.com
BTW, if you are unsure, you can always go to the usual http://m.yahoo.com and see if you can catch the “Try out the New Yahoo!” sentence.
Back to my reasons. These are my reasons: –
- It is a URL. That means regardless of any phone platform I have, if my phone has a browser, I am able to get back to the same homepage where all my stuffs are configured (see below on what “stuffs” can be configured).
- You can still use Yahoo! Onesearch for checking out stuffs.
- An integrated homepage to see: –
- your email accounts (e.g. Yahoo!, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail). There is not a need for you to switch to different websites to check your mail
- your social network (Yahoo! called it Social Pulses) where you can configured your facebook, Twitter, Friendster, MySpace, Youtube, Flicker, Dopplr, Last.fm. Heard that it will be increased in future.
- An upgraded version of Yahoo! Messenger. Sorry, I seldom use Messenger. So, I let you help me to comment 🙂
- your Yahoo! contacts and Calendar.
- Yahoo! News
- My Interests. This is interesting as it allows you to view RSS, weather conditions, sports, stock, websites/blogs and many more. Explore it yourself.
Basically, you will just need one Yahoo! Mobile page to survive the whole day. Just keep clicking refresh if you are worried you are not up to date (instead of browsing through a dozen of websites, one at a time).
These are the highlights of Yahoo! Mobile Launch. However, as bloggers, we do not end here. We have many questions. These are some that I have captured.
Q&A
1. What is the business model for Yahoo! in this Yahoo! Mobile?
Yahoo! is still maintaining its Search and Advertising model. That means this URL will have advertisements.
2. Will the website auto update?
No. You will need to hit the refresh button to update.
3. Will Yahoo! consider to build apps for other platforms (since currently only Apple has Apps for this new Yahoo! Mobile)?
Not at this moment as feedbacks show that the customer satisfaction on the URL is high and there is not a need (yet) to build apps for other platform.
4. Will more countries be added to the New Yahoo! Mobile
Yes. It takes time as it has to be customized to each country.
5. Will Yahoo! venture into a Social Networking Model or platform (e.g. like twitter)
No. Yahoo! thinks that there are already a handful of Social Networking platform. Therefore, there is no plan to create one now.
So, that is about it on the event. If there is anything that I missed out or mentioned incorrectly, please let me know and I will alter it. Now, for the parting shot.
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