CES 2008

Yahoo! Joins the Open Platform Bandwagon, Launches Yahoo! Go 3.0

| Jan 8, 2008 | Wireless Services - U.S. | Show Update

| Analysts: Deepa Karthikeyan, Emma Mohr-McClune

Current Perspective: Positive/Neutral Vendor Importance: High Market Impact: High

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Event Summary

January 7, 2008 -- Yahoo! launched a major enhancement of its Yahoo! Go client software, in early beta. The downloadable client software allows users to customize and personalize their home page with both Yahoo! services such as My Yahoo!, Yahoo.com, Flickr, and OneSearch as well as widget access to Internet services such as MySpace, eBay, and MTV going forward. The beta client is currently only available to U.S. customers, and it is only applicable to a select range of higher-end devices in the immediate term. However, Yahoo! promises to ramp up both Yahoo! Go 3.0’s global rollout and handset applicability in the coming weeks and months.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Slightly positive on Yahoo! Go 3.0, which promises a major evolution of the out-dated and under-utilized Yahoo! Go 2.0. The much-improved client software application promises a significantly modernized UI, new customizable tools for widget access to services such as eBay, MySpace, and MTV going forward, and interactive click-to-call mobile advertising functionality. However, the application is still in beta, which indicates that it is not running in optimal mode and it is currently available only on a few high-end handsets.

• Vendor Importance: High to Yahoo!, specifically its mobile ambitions, as Yahoo! Go 3.0 signals the company’s aggressive re-entry into the mobile realm, after a period of relatively low innovation and commitment. Yahoo! Go 3.0 also shows Yahoo!’s embrace of game-changing wikinomics, with a Mobile Developer Platform for third-party developers. Yahoo! Go 3.0 will allow Yahoo! to better offset archrivals’ growing momentum in the mobile market, notably Apple (with the iPhone) and Google (with Android).

• Market Impact: High on the U.S. mobile market, as the launch opens Yahoo!’s platform to third-party widgets and applications. Although the client is still in beta and only available on a limited selection of higher-end devices, it gives Yahoo! additional ammunition to tackle archrival Google, whose Android announcement garnered immense support from the industry last year and strengthens its reputation as a mobile content and messaging one-stop shop.

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Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

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