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Category: Yahoo
November 18th, 2009
Yahoo's dwindling search share: Time to panic?
Microsoft’s Bing search engine continues to grab market share from Yahoo in a perverse dance before these two companies partner in an attempt to conquer Google.
The latest comScore stats tell the tale. Simply put, Microsoft has nearly garnered 10 percent market share as Yahoo gives ground monthly. Google continues to gain share.
Now compare this to the picture at the end of 2008:
The twisted part: Microsoft and Yahoo are future partners on search (assuming regulators play along). 
The companies announced in late July that Yahoo would outsource search to Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz looked like long lost college pals.
Since then, Microsoft has systematically grabbed share from Yahoo. It appears that Microsoft will grab its search share with or without Yahoo. And if Microsoft acquires Ask.com, which may be on the block, the software giant picks up more share. Bottom line: Microsoft
has played the Bing marketing game well. By portraying Bing as a rival to Google it has crowded out the No. 2 player—Yahoo.
Is it time for Yahoo to hit the panic button? Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay addresses the issue in a research note Wednesday.
At a high-level Lindsay reckons:
- Since the Yahoo-Microsoft deal was negotiated Microsoft has grabbed 130 basis points of U.S. search queries.
- 18 percent market share for Yahoo is an unprecedented low.
- Each 100 basis points of share loss equals a penny of earnings per share.
- Yahoo’s 18 percent market share in search is worth $6 per share to investors.
- Yahoo’s search share could fall nearly 4 points before the deal closes.
Lindsay writes:
The deal structure gives Microsoft a perverse incentive to try and gain search share from Yahoo! rather than Google. As Microsoft cranks up its marketing engine to promote trial of Bing, the player it seems to be hurting most is Yahoo! followed at some distance by AOL. Whether this is a deliberate tactic by Microsoft (which we think unlikely) or not, the 130 bps of search share lost by Yahoo! to Bing we estimate has already cost Yahoo! shareholders $0.40/per share.
Even with all of those moving parts, Lindsay says that the financial impact isn’t as severe as some folks fear. Yahoo’s owned and operated sites carry the day. Simply put, Yahoo is more destination than search player.
Nevertheless, Yahoo is in a dangerous limbo here. Yahoo’s search team is more likely to be focused on sending resumes than advancing the ball. Advertisers are holding out for the deal to close before picking sides and they’re likely to go to the alpha male in the Microhoo deal—Microsoft.
And the biggest problem: Google isn’t standing still. Google is ramping up its mobile features and adding features and functionality at a rapid clip.
Also: Yahoo, Microsoft extend negotiations for search pact
- Yahoo: Major businesses have stabilized; update on Microsoft deal
- Yahoo pays its ‘technical debt’ with IT overhaul
- Yahoo’s search strategy: We’re not fighting “the megawatt war”
- Yahoo-Microsoft deal: Details from the SEC filing
- Ballmer on the Microsoft-Yahoo deal: ‘Nobody gets it’
- Microsoft-Yahoo: Gauging the IT integration risks
- It’s official: Microsoft-Yahoo ink 10-year search pact; Regulator scrum begins
October 28th, 2009
Yahoo, Microsoft extend negotiations for search pact
Yahoo and Microsoft said Wednesday that they have agreed to extend the negotiating period for their search ad pact.
The companies had expected to execute a definitive agreement by Oct. 27. Microsoft and Yahoo announced their search deal in late July.
In a regulatory filing, Yahoo said the company and Microsoft have:
“Mutually agreed to extend the period to negotiate and execute a Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and a License Agreement (the “Definitive Agreements”) reflecting and supplementing the provisions of such agreements as set forth in annexes to their binding letter agreement dated July 29, 2009 (the “Letter Agreement”). The Letter Agreement specified that the parties would execute Definitive Agreements by October 27, 2009, but given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized. The parties are working diligently on finalizing the agreements, have made good progress to date, and have agreed to execute the agreements as expeditiously as possible.”
October 28th, 2009
Yahoo gains respect, credibility as news outlet; looks to expand offerings
Yahoo, it appears, is discovering what news media companies have known for generations. Producing original quality editorial content, others will notice - whether readers, other news outlets or even advertisers. And by grabbing that sort of attention, the company also gains some credibility.
During a presentation at Yahoo’s Analyst Day, company execs talked about the new respect that Yahoo Sports has received by breaking news, landing exclusive interviews and even creating original, on-the-fly content to accompany video clips or other daily highlights. (Techmeme)
As the company talks about its commitment to being a destination site for relevant information - as opposed to being a search engine like Google - the investment into original content seems to be paying off. Other sources, including ESPN and The Washington Post, are giving credit to the Yahoo for breaking news - and the company is seeing some great traffic on those posts. Likewise, Yahoo is also seeing some traction in original video.
What comes next? A similar strategy around the Entertainment, News and Finance verticals. But that’s not to say that the company is looking to turn publisher partners into competitors. The majority of the content is licensed by third parties and much is it comes in on a revenue-sharing basis or on a “content for traffic” basis where no cash is exchanged but instead drives traffic to the partner site - basically help them build brand awareness and deliver clicks.
For some time, news publishers - mostly the newspapers - have been squawking about aggregators like Yahoo and Google, arguing that they are gaining traffic (and revenue) because of someone else’s reporting work. In some ways, that’s a fair argument. But in other ways, it’s more of the head-buried-in-the-sand mentality.
Newspapers, unlike Yahoo and other Web sites, are still plagued by that yesterday’s-news-on-a-dead-tree model that comes with a lot of financial overhead and isn’t nearly as timely as the Internet. Sure, most newspapers have their own Web sites but with the millions of people who come to Yahoo everyday - whether to check their e-mail or look up a stock quote - doesn’t it make sense for Yahoo to help distribute that news and drive some traffic back to the original source?
Yahoo has its own editorial news staff for Sports and now they’re looking at beefing up the staffs for Entertainment, Finance and News. I know first-hand of way too many professional journalists who have been laid off by struggling newspapers and would probably jump at the chance to help Yahoo build a breaking news, find-it-here-first sort of news operation.
If publishers continue to squawk about keeping their content behind a wall, don’t come crying when a Web company like Yahoo beats you at your own game - with the employees you trained.
October 23rd, 2009
Icahn to resign from Yahoo board
Billionaire Carl Icahn, who launched a proxy war for control of Yahoo after co-founder Jerry Yang rejected a Microsoft takeover last year, said he will resign from Yahoo’s Board of Directors, according to reports.
Noting that the board no longer needs an activist, Icahn said he is focused on “a number of other companies” and that he doesn’t have time to focus on Yahoo. Icahn scored a seat on Yahoo’s board last summer after reaching a settlement on the proxy fight.
Since then, Yahoo has become a different company, with new CEO Carol Bartz cleaning house and refocusing the company’s strategies and efforts, including a $100 million marketing campaign and a 10-year search deal with Microsoft.
Earlier this week, Yahoo reported third quarter earnings that were flat sequentially, though still considered to be “solid,” given the state of the economy. In the first three quarter under Bartz’ control, the company has shed some business units and honed in on others. During the earnings call, company execs said the major businesses have stabilized.
Icahn remains one of Yahoo’s major shareholders with about a 4.5 percent stake. Icahn praised Bartz’s work on the company, as well as the Microsoft search deal, which he said will provide long-term benefits.
October 21st, 2009
Yahoo: Giving users a mobile experience, not a mobile OS
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who was scheduled to speak at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco this morning, has been bitten by a flu bug and didn’t make it to center stage today. But that’s OK - her team was on-hand for a media breakfast and shared her vision with reporters.
I spent some time chatting with David Ko, a 10-year Yahoo veteran who oversees the mobile division, this morning. We talked about the balancing act that folks in the mobile space are dealing with and the various forces at work: new mobile platforms, changing user demands, a growing number of devices and new traffic jams on mobile data networks.
Unlike Google, which has its mobile focus centered around the Android mobile operating system and integrating its various online tools into mobile devices, Yahoo is focused on the mobile experience.
Experience, of course, is Yahoo’s latest buzz word. The company’s new $100 million marketing campaign is centered around the user and the company is working hard to give real users what they want, not what Yahoo thinks they want. Ko, for example, spent a few years living overseas, interacting with and observing the way that people in emerging markets in parts of Asia and Latin America, for example, are using mobile devices. It’s different than what’s happening in the U.S. and advanced countries in Europe.
The thing about mobile, Ko said, is that it’s not cannibalizing the PC experience. Instead, the two compliment each other. And that makes us more efficient, he said. Think about it: how many people out there are using their phones to manage some e-mail over breakfast, on the train or even in the elevator up to the office. It used to be that folks would get to the office and spend an hour or so knocking out some e-mails, maybe checking on the status updates of Facebook friends and catching stock portfolios. Because of mobile. we’ve already done all of that by the time we get to our desks.
But that only works when the mobile tools create an experience that’s just as welcoming as the experience on a PC browser.
Also see: A Yahoo face-lift: New look and feel for Mobile, Mail, Messenger and Search
Mobile today is not what mobile will look like in 5 years, he said. It’s constantly evolving and, already, mobile means different things to different users. The trick for Yahoo is to create a user experience that’s good for everyone - from the power user to the casual user, from the Wall Street stock chaser to the teenager obsessed with celebrity news.
Through customization - whether on the PC home page or mobile home page - Yahoo is giving users the tools that they need to make their experience a good one. Yahoo sees that - not building operating systems or mobile devices - as the key to keeping users engaged.
October 20th, 2009
Yahoo: Major businesses have stabilized; update on Microsoft deal
Yahoo delivered a bit of a surprise for its third-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street’s expectations handily and offering signs that CEO Carol Bartz is turning the company around.
For the quarter, the company reported net income of $186 million, or 13 cents per share, on revenue of $1.58 billion. Adjusted for expenses, income was $213 million, or 15 cents per share. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $1.12 billion. Revenue was down 12 percent from the year-ago quarter - before Bartz took the reins of a troubled company in need of a rebound - but was flat, compared to the most recent quarter. (Statement, Techmeme)
In a statement, Bartz said:
With revenue coming in above our guidance and flat sequentially, we had a solid third quarter that signals our major businesses have stabilized. With new products like Yahoo! homepage, our brand revitalization campaign and expansion in the Middle East through Maktoob.com, our execution is improving and we’re focused on what we do best - being the center of people’s online lives.
Earlier this year, Bartz said that a comparison of Yahoo to Google was an inappropriate one - and the company has spent much of the past few months playing up the Yahoo experience, from enhancements to the home page and Yahoo Mail to a new brand marketing campaign that highlights the importance of the user and his/her experience. And then there was that long-anticipated search deal with Microsoft.
A call with analysts today was led by CFO Tim Morse, who said that Bartz “came down with something” and asked him to take the call. Plus, he said, the company is hosting an analyst’s day next week and expects to see many of those same folks for a broader conversation about the company.
October 12th, 2009
Yahoo plots app mall, app portability through its properties
Yahoo has been busy rolling out new features—new home page, revamped My Yahoo, Mail and Messenger overhauls—that come courtesy of its infrastructure revamp a few years in the making.
Among the most promising efforts by Yahoo are its homepage applications. Open to all third parties and self serve for about two weeks or so, Yahoo is allowing anyone to develop apps that can gain traffic from the home page. Why wouldn’t third parties give Yahoo a whirl?
However, Yahoo is likely to run into a problem pretty quickly. It’s going to have too many apps to navigate. Enter an app marketplace—actually more like a browsing mall—from Yahoo. Cody Simms, senior director of product management for Yahoo Open Strategy, acknowledged the potential navigation problem and said there will be better discovery tools coming later this year or early 2010.
October 9th, 2009
Retraction: Yahoo and Iran
Overnight one of our bloggers, Richard Koman, reported that Yahoo handed over user names to the Iranian government. We’re retracting the blog post. Here’s what went wrong.
First, the post was based on a single source who had a clear agenda. That source wasn’t properly filtered and his charges weren’t verifiable by credible sources.
Second, we never called Yahoo to verify the report or get an appropriate response. Blog networks still need to follow journalism 101 and Yahoo should have been called. In summary, our checks and balances went awry. We put a lot of trust in our bloggers to get it right and frankly we let you down with this report.
The chain of events can be found on the post, but we wanted to do a separate item for the record. My apologies again and we will be taking corrective measures to prevent this breakdown.
More reading:
October 9th, 2009
Yahoo pays its 'technical debt' with IT overhaul
Yahoo had a lot of “technical debt”—systems that most companies would call legacy infrastructure—and has it just about paid off.
Sam Pullara, chief technologist at Yahoo, walked developers through its infrastructure changes over the last three years. The talk could have come from any enterprise that finds itself with a rat’s nest of systems, no architecture vision and siloed divisions. “One of the things you have to understand. Yahoo’s IT wasn’t built on one uniform infrastructure. It was built by acquisition and building up properties,” says Pullara. “We had a lot of technical debt.”
Sound familiar? Yahoo went through what every companies does. Simply put, it had too many legacy systems that were strangling the company. The biggest hurdle: Resisting the urge to build your own stuff. Pullara says:
When building your own systems should you be leveraging the open source community? Are these the kinds of things you do as opposed to reinventing the wheel. What we’re finding is not reinventing the wheel has a great benefit.
Here are some of the key parts of Yahoo’s IT overhaul and my notes.
October 9th, 2009
Clay Shirky, live from Yahoo Open Hack Day 2009
We’re reporting to you live from Yahoo’s Open Hack Day 2009 at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City’s Times Square.
Today, NYU professor and Internet savant Clay Shirky will address the audience from the Hudson Theatre on 44th St. He will be joined by several Yahoo executives: Jay Rossiter, SVP, Consumer Platforms Group; Cris Yeh, head of Yahoo Developer Network; Neal Sample, VP, Social Platforms; Cody Simms, Sr. Director, YOS Product Management; and Sam Pullara, Chief Technologist.
Here’s a liveblog of the festivities, written by Larry Dignan and photographed by Andrew Nusca.
(Note: Posts appear in reverse chronological order. Scroll to the bottom to begin.)
September 30th, 2009
Zimbra launches new suite; Hits 50 million paid email accounts
Zimbra on Wednesday launched a new collaboration suite and said it hit the 50 million paid mailbox mark.
The open source email and collaboration software provider, a unit of Yahoo for now, called the Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0 its “most significant upgrade” and rolled out a bevy of new features (statement, Zimbra blog, feature list). Zimbra is used by more than 100,000 organizations including companies like Bechtel, Comcast and WebMD and a host of government agencies and colleges and universities.
Given chatter about Yahoo potentially offloading Zimbra the statement provides a few curious tidbits. On one hand, Zimbra plays up its momentum and rapid growth (read: we’re a valuable asset to a buyer) yet notes how its features are integrated into Yahoo Mail’s overhaul (read: we’re not going anywhere).
Among the key features in the latest collaboration suite:
September 28th, 2009
Yahoo kicks off new 'It's You' campaign with video ad
Yahoo recently announced its new “It’s You” global marketing campaign, and today the company inaugurates it with a happy, feelgood video advertisement that will run in the U.S. and later in the U.K., India and several other countries:
It’s called “Anthem,” and it’s obviously rooting itself in the global community meets zeitgeist thing.
What do you think: effective, or falls flat? Tell us in TalkBack.
September 22nd, 2009
Redefining Yahoo: Will $100 million in marketing do the trick?
On the surface, Yahoo’s new “It’s You” campaign is supposed to be focused on customizing the experiences of users and advertisers to make them more relevant to each other.
But don’t be fooled, though. This campaign is less about you and more about Yahoo and its attempt to redefine itself.
CEO Carol Bartz brought an entourage of execs from Silicon Valley to New York City for a big-city press conference at the Nasdaq headquarters in Times Square to announce the $100 million multi-channel marketing and product campaign. (Techmeme) They laid out the campaign, talked about strategy, fielded some questions and, in typical Bartz fashion, even managed to get a bit feisty with the reporters who questioned the company’s moves - and motives.
“The focus of the company is really to engage and personalize Yahoo for customers,” Bartz said, highlighting its 581 million users and emphasizing that 76 percent of Internet users in the U.S. use Yahoo in some way. “We’re ready to deliver on this.”
The global campaign - a first for Yahoo - is anchored by a recently refreshed Yahoo homepage, which gives users the freedom to embed favorite sites from across the Web, even non-Yahoo sites. Beginning as a marketing effort that will gradually shift over 15 months toward a focus on the company’s products, the campaign will launch in 10 countries — Brazil, Canada, France, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, the U.S. and the U.K. — and aims to engage users with tighter integration of internal and external sites and a more useful, relevant experience.
Also see: A Yahoo face-lift: New look and feel for Mobile, Mail, Messenger and Search
A B2B campaign rounds out the marketing and product push.
“This is a highly-evolved concept,” Bartz said, stressing coordination and integration across Yahoo sites. “How can you organize your life and have it your way?”
In turn, Yahoo plans to use its large scale to offer what Bartz called “micro-insights” about consumers to advertisers, to help them offer more relevant, and thus effective, advertisements to users.
Through surveys, the company has discovered that consumers actively seek out relevant advertisements. “We’re really delivering an enterprise system to our ad partners so they can get their jobs done,” Bartz said. “Consumers want good advertisers. It’s a marriage made in heaven.”
Still, the presentation was clearly about repositioning the Yahoo brand.
Bartz discussed how Yahoo’s search will be integrated with the campaign, exchanging “worthless tons of results” for a “different experience.” Unprompted, Bartz declared, “It’s not Bing, it’s Yahoo search.”
But reporters had questions - specifically, whether the company was obsessed with pointing out how it’s different from Google or Microsoft. Almost on cue, Bartz lashed out at the New York and Silicon Valley press for its skepticism about the company’s moves.
“When you get out of New York City and Silicon Valley, people love Yahoo,” Bartz said. “Why are you cynical about us? Get cynical about frickin’ Google. Just leave us alone.”
Also see: Bartz to Yahoo shareholders: Change is coming; We’re not Google
Yahoo’s search strategy: We’re not fighting “the megawatt war”
Google comparisons dogged Bartz, though, prompting her to acknowledge that the company had “put a cloud over its head” in the past.
Yahoo and Google are different companies that are in different businesses, she said. “They aren’t us and we aren’t them… Google is maniacal about running an algorithm. We’re maniacal about being relevant and personal.”
So, if not Google, which companies would Bartz place on Yahoo’s competitive landscape? The closest one, she said, is really AOL. “Managing the Web from one place is really the core of our product focus,” Bartz said. “In reality, we are our own comparison.”
Through still advertisements and videos, the company plans to reinforce a message that’s happy and joyous, colorful and creative, fun and familiar. Expect to see real people, too - no makeup, no actors. And expect to hear some of these slogans, too:
- The Internet is under new management. Yours.
- Now the Internet has a personality. Yours.
- There’s a new master of the digital universe. You.
- This time it’s personal
- Totally you.
“Our campaign is multichannel…but it’s absolutely grounded in the digital discipline,” said Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer Elissa Steele.
Bartz also played coy on rumors that Yahoo was shopping around Zimbra, an open source e-mail company whose technology powers Yahoo Mail.
“Things that might have been a good idea years ago we’re revisiting,” Bartz said. “Where it makes sense to sell, we will.”
S
till, Steele said the success of the campaign will depend on whether it can draw new customers and keep them on Yahoo properties longer. In some regions, that means protecting its franchise; in others, that means using pageviews or unique users as a yardstick.
“This is not a campaign of a short-term nature,” Steele said, noting that it’s a company-wide initiative. “If this was just a marketing campaign, we would have [already] failed.”
Leading the charge with a healthy dose of spunk is Bartz, who continues in her attempt to earn trust and credibility in the post Jerry Yang once occupied.
“The nice thing about being an old broad?” Bartz asked, rhetorically. “I’m tough.”
September 21st, 2009
So long Zimbra and so much for Yahoo Office dreams
Yahoo is reportedly going to unload Zimbra, the open source email company it bought in 2007 for $350 million. According to Kara Swisher at BoomTown Zimbra is as good as gone.
Let’s hear it for focus—Swisher notes that Yahoo is also trying to unload other businesses—but Zimbra had some real potential. Yahoo is expected to unveil a new campaign that’s heavy on the consumer focus on Tuesday so something that’s more business focused—like Zimbra—is expendable.
It’s unknown what Zimbra could have been without its Yahoo detour, but it’s shocking how bullish Yahoo execs were on the open source email app in 2007. In fact, a trip down memory lane was comical.
First, I wrote:
Zimbra will be an interesting addition to Yahoo’s portfolio. The subliminal message from Yahoo seems to be this: Yahoo won’t let Google Docs and Spreadsheets get traction without a fight. Zimbra is well respected and could get more traction with some marketing heft.
But that wasn’t bad as former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s take:
“Our industry-leading communications products, including Yahoo! Mail, are critical to the future growth and success of Yahoo!. Zimbra’s tremendous talent and innovative technology will help to extend our core Mail offerings, further strengthening our strong leadership position in this space. Additionally, Zimbra’s successful relationships with large ISPs are key as we expand our worldwide partner network and continue to focus on our commitment to being the partner of choice.”
Now we know the truth. Perhaps Yang should have said:
We’re going to take Zimbra, use a few features, realize we don’t know what to do with it and unload it at a loss. And oh by the way I probably won’t be CEO when this promising company is sold.
If we only knew at the time.
September 21st, 2009
Google's book settlement: Here comes the DOJ and likely deal tweaks
The Department of Justice became the latest party to file its concerns about Google’s book settlement and it appears the search giant will have to either make tweaks or allow the feds—and maybe even Congress—to poke around. Bet on the tweaks.
When we last checked in on the Google Book Settlement it was all about the sniping between the various parties. The headliners are Amazon vs. Google. Google was sued in 2005 by authors and publishers for infringing on copyrights as the search giant moved to digitize books. Google settled in October 2008 with authors and publishers for $125 million and agreed to set up a registry to ensure copyright owners would be compensated. Now many parties are freaked out that Google could garner such control.
September 18th, 2009
Follow up: Yahoo Mail's search bug and customer service
A few weeks ago we highlighted about an odd Yahoo Mail search bug. The problem: Yahoo Mail’s search function wouldn’t work and that’s a big issue when you have thousands of email messages. Here’s a look at how Yahoo has responded to users.
As noted before, Yahoo’s techies rebuilt my inbox after I looked into it. Since my post I’ve heard from dozens of folks that have had the same problems. My initial plan was to pull together the bevy of emails I received and forwarded them to Yahoo once a week—I figured this would only last three weeks or so.
Wrong! Talk about the long-tail of a pesky bug. I continue to receive email about the Yahoo Mail search bug. The good news: Some of you actually got help. Others have hit a brick wall of help tickets. I haven’t been able to discern any reliable pattern of the first wave of folks that got help.
Due to Yahoo’s privacy policies the person with the inbox has to initiate the help process. However, there does seem to be a ticket—and the main objective for you is to reach second tier support. Yahoo support has said “we’re taking care of these users as fast as we can.”
If you happen to stumble across this post as you search for Yahoo Mail help, here are the instructions forwarded to me. This escalation message below seems to have worked for about two-thirds of the folks that contacted me two weeks ago with problems.
September 16th, 2009
Bing usage jumps 22 percent, now at 10 percent share
Bing, the “decision engine” launched by Microsoft earlier this year, has grabbed 10 percent of market share, with total searches jumping more than 22 percent from July to August, CNET reports.
Statistics released by Nielsen this week also show that Google, with a 2.6 percent gain, maintained a strong lead for the month, holding nearly 65 percent market share. Yahoo saw its searches dip more than 4 percent. It holds 16 percent market share.
Just this week, Microsoft grabbed Bing headlines when it launched a beta of Visual Search, a new feature that’s offering some interesting peeks at where the next generation of search may be headed.
September 14th, 2009
Bing's Visual Search: ideal for great-with-faces, bad-with-names types
Today, Microsoft got me to think differently about search.
Until now, I really hadn’t had much reason to switch to its Bing decision engine, which launched back in May, for my Web searching needs. Google was doing just fine. For a while, I was making an effort to use Yahoo but Google somehow always became the default.
But now, with today’s release of Visual Search for Bing at the TechCrunch50 conference, Microsoft may have given me reason to change some of my personal defaults. (Techmeme)
Also see: Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft Bing gets visual search; full 2.0 update later this fall
Until I started scrolling through the images on Bing’s beta page, I hadn’t realized that there were so many uncaptioned images in my head. Take celebrities, for example. I’m great with faces but horrible with names. Give me a lineup of faces and I’ll spot the right one. And, better yet, give me the tools needed to filter the face by gender, age, type of celebrity (actor, athlete, musician, etc.) and now we’re talking a top-notch user experience.
Visual Search needs Microsoft’s Silverlight to run, so this could also be a nice way to beef up the number of Silverlight installs out there. And it would be worth it. Visual Search is just in beta now but some of the categories stood out and made me think of possible ideas that Microsoft may have up its sleeve with visual search. Among those categories: handbags, cars and dogs.
A lot of women I know are ga-ga over purses, my wife included. (Personally, I don’t get it, but that’s for a different blog.) She can describe one to a friend with great detail and will see it on someone’s shoulder across a crowded store. Unlike celebrities, landmarks or yoga poses (yes, they’re there), these are the sort of things you embed into your memory because you may be thinking about owning one someday. I know I think of that with some cars I see. And I know my wife can do the same with purses.
I’m anxious to see what Microsoft has in the works for the coming months and, believe it or not, I’m getting some kind of warm, fuzzy feeling about Microsoft and Visual Search and the future of search, in general. Regular readers will tell you that it’s not often that I say that about Microsoft.
September 14th, 2009
Yahoo's sale of Alibaba.com stake opportunistic
There’s a fair amount of hubbub about Yahoo’s decision to sell its stake in Alibaba.com, but it’s really just an opportunistic trade.
Reuters notes that Yahoo is selling its entire 1.14 stake in Alibaba.com, China’s B2B e-commerce giant, to net about $150 million. The move makes sense since:
Alibaba.com shares have almost quadrupled from January.
Alibaba.com co-founder Jack Ma just unloaded shares in his own company. And Yahoo still owns 40 percent of Alibaba Group, the private group that floated the Alibaba.com IPO in Hong Kong.
Simply put, Yahoo is just making a decent trade. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is just taking a little liquidity where she can get it. It’s unlikely that Bartz could unload Yahoo’s stake in Yahoo Japan or Alibaba Group easily given the size of the stake, the regulatory concerns and the tax hit.
Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell writes in a research note:
We view the sale timing as opportune given: (1) Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma recently sold 13 mn shares in Alibaba.com, his first sale post-IPO, which likely removes any stigma associated with Yahoo! selling shares in Alibaba.com. (2) Alibaba.com shares have rallied sharply, up 300% ytd and up 50% since Yahoo!’s initial investment; we see near-term downside to Alibaba.com stock given our expectation for higher churn and lower gross adds as it laps the 60% price reduction for Gold Supplier membership in 4Q2008, which drove an initial spike in customer adds.
September 9th, 2009
OpenID, meet the U.S. government
The U.S. government has now joined the OpenID effort.
Ten technology players said Wednesday that they will support President Obama’s initial pilot programs to make it easier to register and work with government Web sites. OpenID is an identity system for the Web that lets people use a single username and password to log in and authenticate themselves to OpenID-compliant Web sites.
The players—Yahoo, PayPal, Google, Equifax, AOL, VeriSign, Acxiom, Citi, Privo and Wave Systems—said they will act as digital identity providers using OpenID and Information Card technologies. In a nutshell, select government sites are now using OpenID.
Obama issued a memorandum to make it easier for citizens to work with government Web sites and pilots are being launched by the Center for Information Technology (CIT), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Based on a statement, you’ll be able to use your Yahoo, PayPal and Google IDs to sign into government sites. According to the government, the use of OpenID will allow individuals to be more interactive with sites without revealing personally identifiable information.
OpenID community board member Chris Messina wrote in a blog post:
By embracing OpenID (and InfoCard), the government is helping to further establish the value of owning one’s own identity, and of having convenient, consistent, and privacy-protecting mechanisms in place to enhance and enable participation.
The government 2.0 promise is to “transform government websites from basic ‘brochureware’ into interactive resources, saving individuals’ time and increasing their direct involvement in governmental decision making.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.
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