I half disagree with Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!’s new CEO, about Yahoo’s challenge. When asked the question “Does Yahoo needs to define whether it is a technology company or a media company?” she responded “It’s not the right questions. The most important thing is to give end users something valuable, inspiring and delightful that makes them want to come to Yahoo! every day.” With that part of her answer I completely agree. But the way to get there — is to become content-focused. In the NYT article Ms. Mayer’s quote came from, an eMarketer analyst suggested that Yahoo doesn’t own the operating system or the device and that there may not be enough room in the market for a 4th mobile platform. (I hate the “P” word, you can drive a truck through it.) Whatever he meant by platform, my take is there will certainly be enough room in the mobile world for a great content provider.
Ms. Mayer accurately feels that mobile is a growth zone for Yahoo!. If she provides content that is mobile ready, not technology ready – she will grow. Technology-enabled (other people’s technology) content is her north star. Any apps or start-ups that result are gravy.
This gem just needs a little cleaning off. 700 million people can’t be wrong. Peace!
