14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo isn't a search company. At least that's the tune it’s playing lately as it outsourced its search capabilities to Microsoft in a landmark deal. Not everyone is convinced that Yahoo got the best deal but content is the new strategy and Yahoo is sticking with it. But it may not be out of the search business altogether. The company has said it will try to differentiate itself in the way it presents the data and in the user experience and it looks like it is moving towards a very hot segment right now, real-time search, but the interesting part is that it will partner with an outside source, possibly OneRiot.
According to TechCrunch, Yahoo is very close to signing a deal and launching a new product that will focus on real-time information. Google and Bing made waves last week with their announcements of independent Twitter search deals, so the fact that Yahoo would want a piece of the actions isn't totally surprising. There aren't any sort of details at the moment other than the fact that it won't be an in-house effort and it won't sign a direct deal with Twitter either.
Yahoo is actually looking to use one of the existing real-time search startups, which there are plenty of, to provide it with the back-end technology. It isn't clear which startup Yahoo has decided to work with but it looks like OneRiot may be a strong contender. The startup didn't make any comments and Yahoo was equally tight-lipped, though it didn't completely dismiss the rumor.
“We can’t comment on rumor or speculation. Real-time search is important and we’re currently conducting several tests designed to discover if showing such content is useful to people using Yahoo! Search. Yahoo! is focused on creating the most innovative, easy-to-use and valuable search experience for people, and after these tests we will carefully evaluate whether we should integrate such results for everyone using Yahoo! Search,” Yahoo responded.