CEO Jerry Yang highlighted Yahoo’s mobile efforts Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show as his company tries to look past a difficult 2007.
In a morning keynote at the Hilton, Yang hinted at Yahoo’s struggles. “It’s still the same old face but maybe with a different attitude,” he said. “I think it’s time to get Yahoo yodeling again.”
One way to get there could be to jump-start the struggling mobile marketplace. Yang didn’t announce any specific desktop initiatives besides previewing an updated mail system. Instead, he demonstrated the 3.0 version of the Yahoo Go mobile browser.
In an attempt to lead a mobile market that is thought to be the next online moneymaker, Yahoo opened the platform to third-party developers to make applications that align with the company’s standards.
EBay, MySpace and MTV News are the first announced companies to sign on.
“Yahoo believes we will be a leader and key enabler of the mobile ecosystem,” Marco Boerries, executive vp connected life at Yahoo, said during a news conference after the keynote. “But one company can’t do it alone.”
While the mobile market is huge in parts of Asia and Europe, it remains relatively small in the U.S.
Yang, who co-founded Yahoo, took over last year from embattled CEO Terry Semel.
