Yahoo! murders unborn Java smartphone app
Just three months ago, Yahoo! unveiled a Java-based uber-app for myriad smartphones not called the iPhone. But now, even before it exits beta testing, the company is killing the poor thing. As reported/mangled by TechCrunch, Yahoo! recently sent a letter to those interested in beta testing its Yahoo! Mobile smartphone app, …
It's called the "internet".
...and it contains all sorts of useful information about local taxi firms, news, weather and, wow, even restauarants in YOUR area.
It strikes me as completely contradictory to show off about how good a browsing experience your phone has...at the same time as pushing services which abstract freely available data from the internet at a price. Can't be that easy to use if people will pay for this sort of "added value", and I use the term very loosely.
Seems like a positive step if yahoo are going to do this server side and make their websites easier to use, rather than producing some memory grabbing app, but at least their previous offerings were free!
Yahoo! Mobile was an excellent tool. m.yahoo.com, however, sucks. I have an HTC Touch Diamond, and far and away prefer using a discrete app for accessing web-based info. Using the browser on a mobile device is akin to using a post-it note to write a novel. Difficult at best. This applies equally to both Opera Mobile and IE.
Where oh where is Firefox mobile...
only 3 people on the internet actually care for a Yahoo! smartphone app. No wonder they ceased dev on it.
The main reason I was looking forward to the Yahoo! app for my HTC Touch Pro (CDMA) was because I wanted a Flickr uploader that wouldn't restrict me to reduced resolution images (like when I attempt to upload via e-mail).
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