SEMEL - REUTERS
LAS VEGAS (Reuters):
YAHOO INCORPORATED, the world's largest Internet media company, on Friday unveiled a new service that will make using its Web, media and personal services as easy to use on mobile phones and TVs as on computers.
Chief executive Terry Semel said products marketed under the newly established Yahoo Go brand reflected consumer demands to easily access information wherever they like, and to customise the way in which they view the Web and the world.
"We think the Internet isn't just a Web page," Semel told the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the largest U.S. electronics convention. "Connecting the Internet to any device you might imagine" is the next stage of the Web, he added.
CES embraced the Web as never before this year, and Semel pleaded with hardware makers to work with Yahoo
to make its services available everywhere. Announcements during the week showed Web connectivity is becoming standard on many communications devices well beyond the PC.
NEW PRODUCTS
The Web media company's new products include Yahoo Go Mobile and Yahoo Go TV. A third product, Yahoo Go Desktop, will tie the phone and TV services to the personal computer, the most common way of using Yahoo services.
But there are nearly two billion cellphones worldwide, roughly double last year's Web use, Semel noted as an indication of where the Web would grow.
Wall Street applauded, sending shares of Yahoo up four per cent to $43.21. Rival Google Inc.'s stock rose 3.2 per cent to $465.66 ahead of its presentation on Friday afternoon. Google is expected to introduce an online video service and an industry effort to improve PC ease of use.
The phone service is a logical extension of Yahoo's efforts to become a standard channel on mobile phone screens instead of being available only on special phones via Web browsers.
The television plan, which represents a far more ambitious and early-stage effort, will target consumers buying PC-linked TVs with fast Internet connections.
Semel and other Yahoo executives said the Internet media company's recent push to encourage users to create more information, reviews, Web logs and other shared information could now extend to other devices.
"For many, many years, we grew up where somewhere else was the programmer. That dynamic has completely changed," Semel said.
Taken from The Sunday Gleaner, January 8, 2006
