Yahoo Introduces Mobile Service Software

After falling behind Google in Internet search and advertising, Yahoo is trying to remain No. 1 in the battle to deliver information and online services to mobile phones.
Yahoo’s latest weapon is software that will let users find information like weather, news, stock quotes and sports scores more quickly on their cellphones. The software, called Go for Mobile 2.0, was unveiled Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, just as Google announced a partnership to put its own mobile software on Samsung cellphones.
Internet services on mobile phones remain a tiny market today, especially in the United States. But industry analysts and Internet companies believe they will eventually outgrow the market for computer-based Internet services as the capabilities of cellphones and the bandwidth of wireless networks improve rapidly.
“We view the mobile Internet today as entering an era where the PC-based Internet was in ’96 or ’97,” said Steve Boom, Yahoo’s senior vice president for broadband and mobile. “It is just on the cusp of taking off.”
For Yahoo, securing a leading position in that market is especially important. The company has struggled over the last year, as Google solidified its lead in search and leaped ahead in online video by acquiring YouTube. Yahoo has also been criticized as lacking initiative and being slow to capitalize on Internet trends like social networking, now dominated by MySpace and Facebook.

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