Enhancements to Yahoo! Blueprint(TM) Include Ability to Create Standalone Mobile Applications as Well as Mobile Web Sites
SAN FRANCISCO,(RUSHRPNEWS) Sep 10, 2008 — Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) today highlighted a material step forward for mobile services built on Yahoo! Blueprint, its mobile development platform.Now, in addition to creating mobile widgets that run within Yahoo!’s flagship mobile application Yahoo! Go(TM), developers can use Yahoo! Blueprint to build standalone applications for Java, Windows Mobile and Symbian devices, as well as to create mobile web sites accessible via virtually any HTML or xHTML mobile browser.
Today, Yahoo! has released developer previews of these new enhancements, further cementing Yahoo! Blueprint’s distinction as the only platform enabling developers to create powerful and compelling mobile services that run seamlessly across thousands of different devices. Yahoo! is using Blueprint internally to develop iPhone applications and is in discussion with Apple on how to make Blueprint for the iPhone available to other developers.
“Developing applications for the fragmented mobile ecosystem is a Herculean effort that often results in developers creating an application that serves the least common denominator of mobile devices with a poor user experience, and an inability to effectively scale,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Yahoo! Connected Life. “Yahoo! Blueprint solves the most challenging problem plaguing today’s mobile landscape — now with one click, you can write once and have mobile services run across a critical mass of devices and operating systems, potentially reaching millions of users. We believe Yahoo! Blueprint is simply the best way to create mobile Internet services — and we expect will change the world of mobile development moving forward.”
Yahoo! Blueprint — The Backbone for Mobile Innovation at Yahoo!
Yahoo!’s leading mobile offerings are built on Yahoo! Blueprint, enabling them to run on thousands of devices globally. Yahoo!’s new Fantasy Football mobile widget was also written in Yahoo! Blueprint, and includes advertising from major brands, including Chex Mix(R). Additional key products that have been launched that are written in Blueprint include:
— the mobile widget gallery in Yahoo! Go 3.0 with content from eBay(R), MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, ABC News;
— Yahoo! properties including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Finance and others;
— Yahoo!’s award-winning Yahoo! oneSearch(TM);
— and today’s announcement of Yahoo! oneConnect(TM), which was created in conjunction with the iPhone SDK [see release titled Yahoo! oneConnect Preview Available for iPhone(TM)].
“Yahoo! is laying the groundwork for an extraordinary opportunity — something that is potentially more important than building a new operating system,” said Michael Gartenberg, VP of mobile strategy, Jupitermedia/mobiledevicestoday.com. “Yahoo! Blueprint will enable developers to write their application and get distribution across many devices — ultimately achieving Yahoo!’s goal of reaching hundreds of millions of users.”
Key Reasons to Develop Using Blueprint
— Faster development time — develop your mobile content quicker and more efficiently than ever before;
— Beautiful user interface — optimizes and renders the presentation of your content based on the unique device capabilities;
— Powerful feature set — such as maps and location based services, with more features expected to become available in the near future;
— Thousand of devices — runs across a wide range of phones, from smart phones to low-end devices; and
— Completely open — anyone can develop their application, with customizable features and monetization options.
In addition to being the mobile platform for Yahoo!’s key mobile offerings, Yahoo! Blueprint contains a full SDK for third-party developers. By submitting Yahoo! Blueprint applications to Yahoo!’s mobile widget gallery, developers can make their applications available potentially to millions of mobile users around the world. To date, mobile users have downloaded applications written in Yahoo! Blueprint across thousands of mobile devices from manufactures including Research in Motion(R), Nokia(R), Motorola(R), and others, getting a user experience specially optimized for their device. Developers can now turn to Yahoo! to alleviate the cumbersome process of porting and rendering their application across a wide variety of devices, while also taking advantage of Yahoo!’s extensive mobile distribution network.
Yahoo! Connects with “Enablers” to Bring Yahoo! Blueprint to the Mobile Masses
In a series of partnerships that Yahoo! hopes will expand the adoption of Yahoo! Blueprint on the mobile Internet, Yahoo! has teamed up with leading mobile web development houses Crisp Wireless, MNet and Netbiscuits to offer their extensive client list the ability to have their mobile web properties developed on Yahoo! Blueprint. These partnerships should allow for a substantial increase in the distribution for the enablers’ clients, as well as align Yahoo! Mobile with some of the largest mobile web development companies today. These partnerships are the latest step in Yahoo!’s efforts to link developers, publishers and carriers into an integrated mobile ecosystem.
“Crisp Wireless is excited about furthering its relationship with Yahoo! through its accreditation to offer Blueprint to our premier network of mobile content sites,” said Michael Weaver, Vice President, Strategy for Crisp Wireless. “It is a win-win scenario for all parties involved — our clients will have the ability to be Yahoo! Blueprint compliant, and further expand their mobile audienceand Yahoo! will have access to some of the biggest brand names and most visible sites on mobile web.”
“Our partnership with Yahoo! for the development of Yahoo! Blueprint widgets is a terrific opportunity to showcase our creative capabilities knowing that the outcome will run across most devices in the US.” – Scott Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer of MNet.
“We are honored to be chosen by Yahoo! as a preferred mobile Internet enabling and publishing platform. Blueprint is a milestone in mobile widget development. Integrating Blueprint into the Netbiscuits platform was an obvious step to make it easier and more efficient than ever before for publishers to create mobile websites and widgets with one platform which run perfectly in the most popular mobile browsers on this planet as well as in Yahoo Go 3.0.” – Michael Neidhoefer, CEO of Netbiscuits
Yahoo! at CTIA Wireless 2008
Visit the Yahoo! booth at CTIA Wireless to see Yahoo! Blueprint at Booth 417. For more information on Yahoo! Blueprint, go to http://mobile.yahoo.com/developers. Screenshots of Yahoo! Blueprint as well as Yahoo!’s complete CTIA press kit can be found at http://mobile.yahoo.com/newsroom.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Yahoo!, Yahoo! Blueprint, Yahoo! Go, Yahoo! oneSearch, Yahoo! oneConnect, and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Yahoo! Blueprint (including without limitation the statements contained in the quotations from management in this press release), as well as Yahoo! Inc.’s strategic and operational plans for Yahoo! Blueprint and related products, as well as Yahoo!’s anticipated role in the global mobile ecosystem. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibilities that Yahoo!’s future product plans might be delayed, might not ultimately be implemented, or if implemented might not be successful; that developers might not embrace Yahoo! Blueprint or the new mobile platform or might do so more slowly than expected; that users might not utilize the new and expanded service offerings or might prefer rival products or services; and that the anticipated benefits to Yahoo! might not be realized. More information about potential factors that could affect Yahoo!’s business and financial results is included under the captions, “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in theYahoo!’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, as amended, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, which are on file with the SEC and available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Yahoo! does not intend, and undertakes no duty, to update or otherwise revise the information contained in this press release.
SOURCE: Yahoo!, Inc.
Yahoo!, Inc.
Lucas Mast, 408-507-1239
lmast@yahoo-inc.com
Zealous Wiley, 408-431-9466
zealous@yahoo-inc.com
