Yahoo! to Enhance Mobile Services via Koprol Purchase

Yahoo! Inc. today announced the purchase of Koprol, a company aimed at enabling users interact in a manner uniquely tailored to mobile phones. The company is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is expected to expand Yahoo’s social, mobile and local offerings by focusing on some of the most popular trends around the world, including location, community expertise and mobile experiences. Yahoo! added that it would continue to invest in the Koprol service, and it is expected to come to the market with a series of mobile applications (aimed at local and global users) in the future.

Through Koprol, users can easily connect and share various items, including photos, reviews and additional information about locations, all being done in real time from the mobile phone's browser, which enables a wider range of handset owners to access and use the service. Those who enter Koprol are enabled to “check-in” to their current location to receive info on what others are doing.

The service can prove useful in other ways too, as it offers people the possibility to find local businesses, including popular shops or restaurants. The service offers results in accordance with user ratings, and provides a “thumbs-up” feature that enables one elevate favorite places in rankings. Additionally, users can engage in discussions based on particular locations, and can invite others to participate.

“The whole Koprol team, including the founders and employees, are joining Yahoo! - where we will focus on expanding Koprol. Rest assured Koprol isn’t going anywhere, in fact it will get bigger with you in Indonesia and beyond. We will continue our mission of helping you discover new and exciting people and places, but with the support and strength of Yahoo! You can expect our planned features to be delivered faster than previously thought - including mobile apps, an Indonesian language version, business accounts, and who knows what else we have in store for you,” a post on Koprol's blog reads.

For what it's worth, it seems that Yahoo! is set to leverage its presence on the mobile market, considering the purchase of Koprol for its mobile social features, and the recently announced partnership with Nokia, aimed at mobile services like email, messaging or location. Here's what the aforementioned blog post added on the matter: “Koprol is a unique social network, but is also a perfect match for Yahoo!. Koprol technology is a unique blend of location-based conversations, a social city guide, and a cross platform mobile application.”