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Yahoo! unveils third leg for managing mobile content
Launches onePlace in German place
CeBIT Yahoo! sprouted the third leg of its mobile content strategy today, with the surprise launch of onePlace, an application that aggregates and filters users' content desires.
onePlace lines up with oneSearch and the recently launched oneConnect to form the vendor's three legged stool for milking the mobile market.
Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Connected Life at Yahoo!, said the service, due to launch next quarter, would allow users to pull their favourite content, information, and accounts from across the web via a PC and mobile devices.
Yahoo! then recognises, sorts, and filters the information, using over 50 categories, said Boerries, enabling users to view it on their phones and other small devices.
So, for example, a news story about Amy Winehouse will be recognised as news content, but also as photo content, celebrity content etc, and will spark off other content. Likewise, details of a flight would also be linked to information about the destination, weather or restaurant reviews.
The app includes a "pulse" view, so the flight booking would stay at the top of the app when viewed on a mobile phone, until the flight has actually taken off. It is also hooked in with the vendor's oneConnect feature, so that once you actually get to the destination, the lists can be reformatted to highlight localised information. Boerries described this as recognising what's bubbling up.
Yahoo! has released open APIs so content providers can link in to the service. Boerries said the app would typically use a huge cache, so users can store content and view it without being connected to their operator and paying even more data charges.
Boerries said the firm would monetise the service in the usual manner – ie, by sticking ads all over it. Asked how partners would make anything from it, he said they would have traffic driven back to their own sites, or might strike revenue sharing deals with Yahoo! So that's alright then!
Separately, the vendor said its Yahoo! Go strategy was being rolled out across Europe, with betas for France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK in March. The vendor has also announced widget deals with the likes of MySpace, Eurosport, and eBay. ®