Yahoo! Inc. unveiled a news reading application for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad as the U.S. Web portal seeks to keep pace with competitors while reviewing strategic options.
Livestand, the iPad app first discussed by Yahoo in February, will be available in Apple’s App Store today, Chief Product Officer Blake Irving said during an event at the Sunnyvale, California, headquarters. It combines news and entertainment from Yahoo sites as well as outside publishers.
Yahoo is sticking to a product plan Irving helped set in motion a year ago, before the company fired Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz and embarked on a strategy review. New software, hires, and acquisitions may help the company compete with Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. for Internet audiences even as the portal’s future remains uncertain, Irving said in an interview before the event.
“There’s a very old saying, which is, ‘Never waste a good crisis,’” said Irving, who joined Yahoo in 2010 after a 15-year career at Microsoft Corp. “When you’re doing a strategic analysis, you’re looking at what’s happening in the marketplace, what’s happening with the assets that I have.”
Livestand is similar to apps including AOL Inc. (AOL)’s Editions and Flipboard Inc. in offering a graphical news reader that takes advantage of the iPad’s touch screen technology. It includes advertisements that can be tapped, zoomed and tilted.
Software Delayed
Yahoo will let publishers of magazines, newspapers and other media supply content to the app, Irving said. Building this capability was part of the reason for the delay of the software, which was initially expected in the first half of 2011, he said. Publications available on Livestand today include Walt Disney Co.’s ABC News, Bonnier Corp.’s Parenting and Forbes magazine.
Yesterday, Yahoo agreed to buy Interclick Inc. (ICLK), which may help the company’s ad partners reach online users with more targeted messages. The tender offer of $270 million, or $9 a share, is expected to close by early 2012.
Yahoo is leaning toward selling Asian assets and redistributing the proceeds to shareholders, rather than selling itself to a group of buyers, people familiar with the situation said last week. No decision has been made yet, the people said at the time. Yahoo may also seek buyers for a minority stake or for the entire company after finding acquirers for the Asian businesses, the people said.
Under Irving, a part-time musician who keeps a set of drums near his office for employee jam sessions, Yahoo has focused more on building software for mobile devices and social networks. He hired Tim Parsey, a design executive from Apple, this year and plans to convert one floor of a building on Yahoo’s campus into a full-time design studio.
“I’ve been sharing the strategy and what we’ve been doing with the board for a long time, going back to 14 months ago,” Irving said. “It’s working.”