Yahoo appears to be making a smart move by disbanding its dedicated mobile division as part of a larger reorganization that will integrate the mobile web into the core of most of its products.
“We are more tightly integrating our mobile business into the company’s DNA as we create the best possible user experiences for our consumers and partners regardless of device or access point,” said Cory Pforzheimer, Yahoo’s senior manager of corporate communications, in an e-mail. “As the adoption of Yahoo’s mobile services continues to grow globally, mobile continues to be a priority for the company.”
The move is pretty much directly from recommendations from CEO Carol Bartz, who, by most accounts, is a no-nonsense, foul-mouthed sh*t kicker. Yahoo’s been getting beat up for years but her moves to streamline the company seem like a good strategy. On the mobile side, she’s cleaned house at the top and seems to understand the importance of the mobile web for the future of the company. The mobile team had previously been in a silo and while it did produce some cool products, Yahoo needs to take a more holistic approach if it hopes to overcome the big, bad Google.
It’s going to be tough to overcome the search giant because it has more resources than Google and it is dead serious about mobile with Android, Buzz for mobile, and other products. Google recently said the desktop would become irrelevant in three years due to the proliferation of the mobile web. The dominant search provider even recently got T-Mobile to cast aside Yahoo as the main search engine on its devices. Yahoo’s not dead in the water though, as it has a deal to provide the default search for AT&T, even on Android-powered devices like the Motorola Backflip. Good luck Yahoo, you’re going to need it.
[Via mocoNews]