At the IAB yesterday Jerry Yang promised that Yahoo would follow a more open path, but didn’t delve into specifics. But there are plenty of specifics to talk about. First, Yahoo Buzz, which launched this week, is a step in that direction, though it’s a limited beta for now. Secondly, Yahoo Search has opened its platform for publishers, allowing them to pull Yahoo results and redesign them as the publishers see fit (not to mention the incorporation of Hadoop, an open source project, in Yahoo Search results) . And third, Yahoo is opening up its home page to selected content contributors.
I plan a longer post on Yahoo if/when I get a chance to talk with folks there. It’s clear they are beginning to roll out a strategy, but, well, it’s not clear to me what the big vision is. I see parts of it – boil the all-in-one advertising platform ocean, make Yahoo more open, create exchanges between publishers and advertisers – but I can’t see the whole dern thing. And from the buzz at the IAB conference after Jerry and Sue’s presentation yesterday, I ain’t the only one.
Update: Sue Decker has posted more of her thoughts on Yahoo’s strategy here. Also, I’m in touch with Yahoo to get a briefing, though skeds being what they are it might not happen for a few weeks…
Also worth noting that Yahoo! removed the minimum CPC price last night.
Yahoo is on the rise and Microsoft knows it.