Forbes
Yahoo's David Ko says mobile ads, apps and partnerships are the best way to increase its mobile business.
Yahoo has long shied away from creating its own cellphones and mobile operating system, even as rivals like Google and Microsoft dove in. Last week, at least, that decision looked wise. On June 30 Microsoft revealed it would stop producing its line of "Kin" cellphones, launched with much fanfare just a few weeks ago. On July 1, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the search giant would not release any more Google-designed Nexus phones, and T-Mobile USA said it would halt distribution of its once-popular Sidekick phones. Analysts attributed all these decisions to disappointing sales in the face of fierce competition.
David Ko, a Yahoo senior vice president who oversees its audience, mobile and local businesses for North and Latin America, says the company continues to believe advertising campaigns, applications and partnerships are the best way to increase its mobile business. Rather than compete with companies like Nokia and Samsung, Yahoo collaborates with them, in part to gain access to their hundreds of millions of users. Even Google could be considered a mobile partner with the recent release of several Yahoo applications for Google Android phones.
Forbestalked to Ko about his strategy, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz's take on the wireless industry and why Yahoo has no plans to buy a mobile ad network.
Forbes: You oversee Yahoo's mobile business as well as its audience properties. How are you tying mobile and media together?
Ko: We had treated mobile as a vertical [business] across the company for a very long time, but it needs to be a true horizontal. It shouldn't be one group thinking about how to mobilize the company, but everyone. Users are no longer logging onto their PCs or laptops for content; they're getting it on netbooks, iPads and cellphones. We have Yahoo Finance and Fantasy Sports on the iPhone and BlackBerry. We're taking our core media properties and pushing them out across these platforms.
On July 1 Yahoo released a slew of mobile applications, including Mail and Messenger applications for Google Android phones. What's the strategy there?
We want to make it really easy for users to access our services wherever, whenever, however. We've been focused primarily on iPhone and BlackBerry, but people are searching for Yahoo on Android. I recognize we may be a little late to Android, but we wanted to have something with increased functionality, not just a "me too" app that we had on other partners one to two years ago. The Android apps let you view and download attachments, get push e-mail and toggle between Mail and Messenger, among other things. Mail and Messenger are core parts of our communications suite that can link out to other areas, and are where the bulk of our users are today. As we start to integrate more of our content, you will see more apps pop up.
Now that Yahoo is on Android, what other mobile platforms are you thinking of adding?
We've partnered with a number of carriers and manufacturers, and most manufacturers are tied to specific platforms. In May we signed a worldwide agreement with Nokia to be the exclusive provider of Ovi Mail and Chat services on its phones. Before that we made an announcement with Samsung to distribute our communications services and content across phones that run [Samsung's own operating system] Bada and Android. The Bada stuff is still to come, and a lot of the Nokia integration too.
So, Yahoo's mobile strategy is to continue forging these partnerships rather than make its own phone or operating system, like Google and Microsoft have done?
Right. We've been very clear in our talks with people in the mobile ecosystem that we're not looking to build our own mobile platform or a version of Android or a phone to compete with manufacturers or platform providers. That means we're not conflicted in the ways, potentially, that other partners may be. My group's mission is to deliver high-quality content and services. We've worked with Samsung and Nokia for many years, but are integrating more deeply with them because we're a trusted partner.
Google talks a lot about how it thinks about "mobile first" now. Is Yahoo placing the same importance on mobile?
[Chief executive] Carol [Bartz] is pushing us to think about mobile across the company. At our analyst day [in May], she talked about what she called the "four o's": mobile, local, social and video. She believes all of these should be horizontals, meaning things a company does in the normal course of business. So if there's a new property you want to build, you have to ask yourself how it will render on a mobile device.
Carol Bartz is known for being frank and decisive. How has she affected Yahoo's mobile business and the way you run your team?
She's definitely pushed us to think holistically, figure out ways to simplify different processes and get things done quicker. At times people have been hesitant, but she is very clear: if something doesn't work, move on, work faster to get to the next thing. Don't sit and point fingers. We want to be about innovation and speed to market.
I recently had my 10-year anniversary at Yahoo, and there was a roast. Carol came in and said some kind words and even took a good whack at a piñata that looked like me. She can give a lot of advice on how to run your business and also be really personal with the team. She's not afraid to roll up her sleeves--in this case, literally.
You just returned from a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. What is Yahoo planning for the Latin American mobile market?
Latin America has long been a Yahoo territory. We have a large team down there, and we're one of the leading portals. But it's sort of new to me. I went there about two weeks ago. We talked a lot about what we could leverage in Latin America and vice versa, in terms of different devices and things we're doing on the media side. We identified dozens of things. In the U.S., for instance, we could probably make a deeper push engaging the Hispanic community. We want our services to have a very local feel.
Earlier this year it seemed likely that Yahoo would buy its own mobile ad network, but so far you haven't followed Google and Apple in that direction.
Google and Apple are monetizing other people's inventory. We're monetizing our own inventory. They're fundamentally two different businesses. Six hundred million consumers come to Yahoo! on a monthly basis worldwide. In the U.S. alone, we have 45 million users on mobile, making us a leading mobile Web brand. That's enough users for us to monetize our own stuff first, which is what we've been working on.
What's your outlook for the mobile ad industry this year and next?
At Yahoo we used to try to push mobile. Now big agencies are saying, "Where are your mobile ads?" That's one of the biggest shifts in the industry today. The market should continue to grow exponentially. As network speeds get faster and phones get easier to use, advertisers can be more creative and better link things between PC and mobile. Mobile has been growing in healthy percentages every year, but that's always been from a smaller base compared to the PC.
Part of Yahoo's monetization strategy appears to be working with HTML5 to create more interesting mobile ads.
We are using HTML5 to show different things around ads. It's a really good first use case and template. Most ads on devices are in a box-type format, but HTML5 has allowed us to be more creative. We did a mobile SEO campaign for Shrek Forever After that had a pop-up element. It was playful, but also functional and not obtrusive; it won't kick you out of the app. Other browsers will have the ability to do similar things. You can see how this could be expanded to other devices and platforms.
Location data is going to be a key feature of anything on the mobile Web. What is Yahoo doing to be relevant in local search?
Local is important for us. In the context of the PC we have launched locally relevant content in places like Detroit and Cleveland with the help of [Web content company] Associated Content [which Yahoo acquired in May]. That started out on the PC first, but stay tuned to where we may want to take that on mobile.
We have an iPhone app called Sketch-a-Search that lets you search for nearby restaurants by drawing an area on a map with your finger. Right now it just finds restaurants, but we will expand it, possibly to include ATMs and gas stations. It's a fun way to play with local within search.
What are Yahoo's plans for the iPad? You were early to release an iPad app.
We are very, very close partners with Apple and want to make sure we're creating engaging apps for them. Our Yahoo Entertainment iPad app has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. You should be seeing other Yahoo SEO apps that utilize that form factor.
David Ko, a Yahoo senior vice president who oversees its audience, mobile and local businesses for North and Latin America, says the company continues to believe advertising campaigns, applications and partnerships are the best way to increase its mobile business. Rather than compete with companies like Nokia and Samsung, Yahoo collaborates with them, in part to gain access to their hundreds of millions of users. Even Google could be considered a mobile partner with the recent release of several Yahoo applications for Google Android phones.
Forbestalked to Ko about his strategy, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz's take on the wireless industry and why Yahoo has no plans to buy a mobile ad network.
Forbes: You oversee Yahoo's mobile business as well as its audience properties. How are you tying mobile and media together?
Ko: We had treated mobile as a vertical [business] across the company for a very long time, but it needs to be a true horizontal. It shouldn't be one group thinking about how to mobilize the company, but everyone. Users are no longer logging onto their PCs or laptops for content; they're getting it on netbooks, iPads and cellphones. We have Yahoo Finance and Fantasy Sports on the iPhone and BlackBerry. We're taking our core media properties and pushing them out across these platforms.
On July 1 Yahoo released a slew of mobile applications, including Mail and Messenger applications for Google Android phones. What's the strategy there?
We want to make it really easy for users to access our services wherever, whenever, however. We've been focused primarily on iPhone and BlackBerry, but people are searching for Yahoo on Android. I recognize we may be a little late to Android, but we wanted to have something with increased functionality, not just a "me too" app that we had on other partners one to two years ago. The Android apps let you view and download attachments, get push e-mail and toggle between Mail and Messenger, among other things. Mail and Messenger are core parts of our communications suite that can link out to other areas, and are where the bulk of our users are today. As we start to integrate more of our content, you will see more apps pop up.
Now that Yahoo is on Android, what other mobile platforms are you thinking of adding?
We've partnered with a number of carriers and manufacturers, and most manufacturers are tied to specific platforms. In May we signed a worldwide agreement with Nokia to be the exclusive provider of Ovi Mail and Chat services on its phones. Before that we made an announcement with Samsung to distribute our communications services and content across phones that run [Samsung's own operating system] Bada and Android. The Bada stuff is still to come, and a lot of the Nokia integration too.
So, Yahoo's mobile strategy is to continue forging these partnerships rather than make its own phone or operating system, like Google and Microsoft have done?
Right. We've been very clear in our talks with people in the mobile ecosystem that we're not looking to build our own mobile platform or a version of Android or a phone to compete with manufacturers or platform providers. That means we're not conflicted in the ways, potentially, that other partners may be. My group's mission is to deliver high-quality content and services. We've worked with Samsung and Nokia for many years, but are integrating more deeply with them because we're a trusted partner.
Google talks a lot about how it thinks about "mobile first" now. Is Yahoo placing the same importance on mobile?
[Chief executive] Carol [Bartz] is pushing us to think about mobile across the company. At our analyst day [in May], she talked about what she called the "four o's": mobile, local, social and video. She believes all of these should be horizontals, meaning things a company does in the normal course of business. So if there's a new property you want to build, you have to ask yourself how it will render on a mobile device.
Carol Bartz is known for being frank and decisive. How has she affected Yahoo's mobile business and the way you run your team?
She's definitely pushed us to think holistically, figure out ways to simplify different processes and get things done quicker. At times people have been hesitant, but she is very clear: if something doesn't work, move on, work faster to get to the next thing. Don't sit and point fingers. We want to be about innovation and speed to market.
I recently had my 10-year anniversary at Yahoo, and there was a roast. Carol came in and said some kind words and even took a good whack at a piñata that looked like me. She can give a lot of advice on how to run your business and also be really personal with the team. She's not afraid to roll up her sleeves--in this case, literally.
You just returned from a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. What is Yahoo planning for the Latin American mobile market?
Latin America has long been a Yahoo territory. We have a large team down there, and we're one of the leading portals. But it's sort of new to me. I went there about two weeks ago. We talked a lot about what we could leverage in Latin America and vice versa, in terms of different devices and things we're doing on the media side. We identified dozens of things. In the U.S., for instance, we could probably make a deeper push engaging the Hispanic community. We want our services to have a very local feel.
Earlier this year it seemed likely that Yahoo would buy its own mobile ad network, but so far you haven't followed Google and Apple in that direction.
Google and Apple are monetizing other people's inventory. We're monetizing our own inventory. They're fundamentally two different businesses. Six hundred million consumers come to Yahoo! on a monthly basis worldwide. In the U.S. alone, we have 45 million users on mobile, making us a leading mobile Web brand. That's enough users for us to monetize our own stuff first, which is what we've been working on.
What's your outlook for the mobile ad industry this year and next?
At Yahoo we used to try to push mobile. Now big agencies are saying, "Where are your mobile ads?" That's one of the biggest shifts in the industry today. The market should continue to grow exponentially. As network speeds get faster and phones get easier to use, advertisers can be more creative and better link things between PC and mobile. Mobile has been growing in healthy percentages every year, but that's always been from a smaller base compared to the PC.
Part of Yahoo's monetization strategy appears to be working with HTML5 to create more interesting mobile ads.
We are using HTML5 to show different things around ads. It's a really good first use case and template. Most ads on devices are in a box-type format, but HTML5 has allowed us to be more creative. We did a mobile SEO campaign for Shrek Forever After that had a pop-up element. It was playful, but also functional and not obtrusive; it won't kick you out of the app. Other browsers will have the ability to do similar things. You can see how this could be expanded to other devices and platforms.
Location data is going to be a key feature of anything on the mobile Web. What is Yahoo doing to be relevant in local search?
Local is important for us. In the context of the PC we have launched locally relevant content in places like Detroit and Cleveland with the help of [Web content company] Associated Content [which Yahoo acquired in May]. That started out on the PC first, but stay tuned to where we may want to take that on mobile.
We have an iPhone app called Sketch-a-Search that lets you search for nearby restaurants by drawing an area on a map with your finger. Right now it just finds restaurants, but we will expand it, possibly to include ATMs and gas stations. It's a fun way to play with local within search.
What are Yahoo's plans for the iPad? You were early to release an iPad app.
We are very, very close partners with Apple and want to make sure we're creating engaging apps for them. Our Yahoo Entertainment iPad app has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. You should be seeing other Yahoo SEO apps that utilize that form factor.
