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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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yahoo.jpg
Yahoo is working on two internal projects to optimize its mobile search and monetization in order to convince Apple to make Yahoo the default search engine on iOS reports Re/code.

The WSJ reported last year that Apple and Yahoo had been in discussions of how to integrate Yahoo's services more prominently in iOS, beyond powering the Weather and Stocks apps.

The report says Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is preparing detailed presentations to present to Apple executives showing what its new mobile search product could look like. There are a pair of internal projects, code-named "Fast Break" and "Curveball", that are part of Yahoo's redesign of its mobile search engine.
That has not happened as yet officially -- it's just the big honking goal of the Yahoo effort, said sources. Still, several said Mayer has already buttonholed a few Apple executives on the topic, including its powerful SVP of design Jony Ive, who knows the former Google exec well.

"This is the aim of the whole effort here, to grab the pole position in iOS search," said one person working on the effort. "It will take more than pretty pictures though to convince Apple to give up Google, given its focus on consumer experience being top-notch. But Marissa wants it very badly."
Currently, Yahoo and Microsoft are in the midst of a 10-year search and advertising partnership, something Mayer is trying to get out of. At the same time, Microsoft's Bing provides the backend for Apple's Siri web search feature. Google is the default search engine in the Safari iOS browser, with Yahoo and Bing available as user-selectable options. Apple already replaced Google's Maps app with its own mapping application as default.

According to the Re/code report, a new and expanded agreement between Apple and Yahoo is not imminent -- Apple has yet to be pitched on the new products. Instead, it's part of a longer term play to bring the two companies closer together.

Article Link: Yahoo Wants to Be Apple’s Default iOS Search Engine
 

Dekema2

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2012
856
437
WNY or Utica
Apple just needs to buy Yahoo, sever its ties with Microsoft/Bing, and use the existing team to create its own search engine.
 

tdiaz

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2006
477
73
No thanks.

Plain and simple.

Yahoo is so full of itself and blind at the same time.
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
I thought Bing was the default on iOS now. Which powers Yahoo search anyway. So there'd be no difference.
 

keterboy

Guest
Jan 22, 2014
152
0
Earth's Core
I really like the idea. All Yahoo needs to do is "simplify" their UI of the search results and a very clean and informative list and from there good luck, why not :)
 

username:

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2013
707
365
Yahoo Weather is always wrong where I live, sometimes 10 degrees (C) off. They don't seem to do things particularly well so I think google should stay default search engine for the time being.
 

seamer

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2009
426
164
Yahoo's not... Friendly. Google is. The results are so varied between the two; it'd be hard viewing Yahoo as a "search" engine when they were a directory for so long. (I'm that old)
 

rlandon91

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2013
2
0
Awful idea.

I feel like it's safe to say that the reaction to this will be similar to when they pulled google maps from iOS...
For the love of bread, just stick with google.
 

Arndroid

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2013
903
461
Since bing has powered yahoo search advertising for years now this seems weird.
 

Legend of Ive

macrumors member
Nov 20, 2013
52
224
Spotlight

Apple is going to introduce Spotlight web search service soon.

Ive: "We think search is an experience. It is not about generating lot of results, its about generating the right results. True search is not about the absence ads its about bringing order to the results"
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,419
6,789
Marissa Mayer is a very competent person. She lead Google in a number of key areas including search at one time before being appointed the CEO of Yahoo.

If she believes Yahoos search is up to the task then I'd like to see it given a fair chance.
 

Skika

macrumors 68030
Mar 11, 2009
2,999
1,246
Been using Yahoo as default on my iOS devices for quite some time now. It works surprisingly well.
 

kagharaht

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2007
1,407
955
Good

Yahoo would be an excellent alternative to Google or Bing. I would like Yahoo to concentrate their business in bringing a better search alternative for users and business.
 
So much Yahoo hate.. I'm a little (only a little) surprised, considering how much Google hate typically flies around here. Has anyone actually used their search much lately?

I, for one, will freely admit that I don't know how good/bad yahoo search currently is. I was actually a holdout with yahoo search for a while. Didn't fully switch to Google till about 2006 or 2007. Yahoo services seem to be looking pretty impressive lately and, although I admittedly don't use any of them, I think they could pull company around.
 
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