Speaking on stage at the Wired Business Conference, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer shared that Yahoo is “working on search,” but that “[the company’s] focus is on the front-end” of search technology.
Mayer was clear in her reasoning behind this decision, stating that “most of the innovation on search will happen in terms of the user interface,” and named “voice search” as a key factor. A font-end focus contrasts Google and Microsoft’s approach, both of which prioritize back-end functionality, like algorithmic sorting.
Mayer went on to share that “summarization will be a core technology on mobile,” and referenced Yahoo’s acquisition of Summly, a now-closed summary service designed to help simplify the way we consume news on mobile
Mayer also discussed her experience at Yahoo over the past nine months, saying that the company needs “to help users make the transition from desktop to mobile more seamlessly.” The Yahoo CEO named the company’s Weather app as a project she’s particularly proud, and explained that Yahoo’s moonshot is to be on “every smartphone, every tablet, every PC for every user.”
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