Yahoo

DotCom Portal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Yahoo!

• started 1994
• IPO 1996
• Buys Rocket Mail to form Yahoo Mail 1997
• Buys ViaWeb 1998
• Buys GeoCities, Broadcast Com 1999
• Buys EGroups 2000
• Buys HotJobs 2001
• Buys Ink Tomi 2002
• Buys Overture 2003
• Buys FlickR, Del.icio.us 2005
• Buys My Blog Log 2007

My gloss on their history

• they had a nice Portal business going
  • search/directory
  • user PIM tools: Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Calendar, etc.
  • My Yahoo as RssAggregator
• they wanted to be more of a giant, so they went after entertainment deals, ISP deals, etc. - this smells a bit like vanity-growth (brand extensions)
• they failed to execute/innovate on Search Engine and WebAd engine, so their core revenue stream tanked - 2007-03-01-WiredYahooBlewItAdBusiness
• because being a Portal seems passe they just thrash around randomly.

G[[UI]] design Pattern-s http://developer.yahoo.net/ypatterns/index.php and UI library (JavaScript, AJAX).

(old notes regarding Passport)

Could be one of the Member Sites and/or one of the Reference Sites.

They could be a "third way", avoiding the AOL/Microsoft "evil of two lessers". They already have a huge namespace. They have an instant messaging client, though with a relatively small user base (but they don't block Jabber, so they get big points for that).

They have lots of generic/horizontal services. I could imagine plenty of Independent Developers coming up with products/services that could be nicely complemented by those features. Even if a develop didn't mind building such services, who would want yet another calendar to look up? Wouldn't it be better if your team collaboration tool generated meetings viewable in Yahoo Calendar (Group Calendaring)? Yahoo could become a real Web Services/HailStorm-type competitor to MsOutlook...