14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo has finally gotten around to clarifying the fate of Delicious, a day after rumors of its closure leaked. While the company did put out a vague statement initially, it didn't say anything about Delicious specifically. Now though it's saying that the service may be sold off and it's complaining about the fact that the coverage provided little "context" previously.
"No, we are not shutting down Delicious. While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive," Yahoo said on the Delicious blog.
"We’re actively thinking about the future of Delicious and we believe there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service and our users," it added.
Yahoo is, apparently, in talks with other companies about the fate of Delicious. While it would not provide any more details, it is clear that the company wants to sell Delicious to some third-party.
Who might want a rather faded, thanks in no small part to Yahoo's lack of interest, Web 2.0 company and how much the site is going to fetch remains to be seen.
But, judging from the response from fans, there are still quite a few faithful users out there. In fact, stories about alternatives to Delicious were quite popular, before Yahoo rectified the situation.
It's possible that all the attention made Yahoo change its mind and think about selling Delicious rather than shutting it down. That would be one explanation for the slow response. The other, of course, as some have said, is that things at Yahoo are rather hectic at the moment.
"Many of you have read the news stories about Delicious that began appearing yesterday. We’re genuinely sorry to have these stories appear with so little context for our loyal users," Yahoo complained. The irony, of course, is that the lack of context is solely Yahoo's fault.