14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo was once the place to go to when you wanted to search the Internet for something. But then Google came along and all was lost.
While Yahoo continues to trail behind other services in the search department, the company might be looking to jump back in the game and provide some competition to Google and Microsoft with a new personalized search tool.
During an earnings call this week, Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer has revealed that the company has a deep interest in search in the mobile sector and particularly in what happens once you involve context.
Which probably means Yahoo is targeting a scenario where personal information is picked up along the way from things like email and such.
Yahoo working on a mobile app called Index
A report coming out of Business Insider reveals more about the company’s plans. Apparently, the stakes are high and Yahoo wants to come to the market with a mobile search/personal assistant product similar to Apple’s Siri, Google Now or Microsoft’s Cortana.
The publication talked to a source knowledgeable in Yahoo matters and was able to find out that the product was code-named Index internally and that it would be a smartphone application.
Mayer has made Index a major goal in the company’s upcoming ventures, and if everything goes according to plan, Yahoo should have a pilot version of the application ready by the second quarter of the year.
Project development has been entrusted to executives Jeff Bonforte and Peter Monaco, but advertising engineers are also involved in the project, which means the app will probably be ad-supported.
At Yahoo, Benforte is in charge of the company’s “communications products,” and his tasks include email and a yet-to-be-released messaging app.
Yahoo has a long lasting relationship with users
According to the source, Yahoo executives believe the company has a major advantage over the likes of Microsoft and Google. Their presence in the ecosystem is much older and the company is betting on that.
During Yahoo’s earnings call, Mayer also gave an example of how Index could work. Let’s imagine a user is on their way to the airport and searches for JFK. Because the person has been involved in exchanging emails about an upcoming flight, Index will know they are referring to the airport (not the president) and would pull up flight details.
On top of Index, we have been hearing rumors that Mayer is looking towards a future where Yahoo’s entire search engine would be rebuilt to suit mobile purposes.