Yahoo to kill swath of products including BlackBerry app, message boards, and more in April to sharpen focus

Yahoo on Friday announced it is killing a slew of services next month. The company is shutting down Avatars, its BlackBerry app, Clues, app search, Sports IQ, Message Boards, and its Updates API next month.

The first six will be shut down on April 1. The Updates API will be gone two weeks later on April 16.

Yahoo explains the reason for the axing of the seven products and services:

Ultimately, we’re making these changes in an effort to sharpen our focus. By continuing to hone in on our core products and experiences, we’ll be able to make our existing products the very best they can be.

In other words, they weren’t popular and it’s time to cut the fat. The company noted some products simply have to go while other products are worth maintaining, and pointed to updates of its new Yahoo site, Yahoo Mail, and Flickr for iOS.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Yahoo Avatars: On April 1, Yahoo will no longer support Avatars across its properties nor the Avatars YQL table. If you like your existing avatar and want to keep it, go to the Avatars download page, pick a picture size and format, and click the appropriate download button. If you want to continue using it on Yahoo, go to your Yahoo Profile and upload the avatar you downloaded.
• Yahoo app for BlackBerry: On April 1, the app will no longer be available for download. If you have it downloaded, you can keep using it but it will no longer be actively supported and there will of course no longer be updates.
• Yahoo Clues (beta): On April 1, it will be shut down.
• Yahoo App Search: On April 1, it will be shut down.
• Yahoo! Sports IQ: On April 1, it will be shut down. Your final lifetime Sports IQ score and rank will be automatically transferred to and preserved within your Yahoo Fantasy Profile.
• Yahoo! Message Boards website: On April 1, the site will shut down but message boards on individual properties (like Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Fantasy Sports) will remain active. Yahoo will encourage its users to use Yahoo Answers instead and to discuss issues in the comments section on Yahoo News.
• Yahoo Updates API: On April 16, the API will no longer be supported.

See also – Stating that Yahoo will become a ‘predominantly mobile company,’ Mayer talks down immediate acquisition plans and Despite declining display unit, Yahoo beats with Q4 non-GAAP EPS of $0.32, revenue of $1.22 billion

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