Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer bets big on mobile future

Advertisement
By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 29 November 2012 13:27 IST
Yahoo! chief executive Marissa Mayer said in an interview released Wednesday she is pushing the Web giant's focus to mobile, including getting its employees on smartphones.

"We have a terrific set of assets on the Web, they are all the things people want to do on their mobile phone," said Mayer in an interview with Fortune magazine which was also released by its partner CNN Money.

In her first media interview since becoming CEO in July, Mayer said she is getting employees to use the popular mobile systems including Google's Android, Apple's iOS and Windows 8, while getting rid of BlackBerrys.

"It is really important that our engineers, our sales people and everyone throughout the whole organization really understand Android, iPhone and Windows 8, really get a sense of what is happening there, and how to participate in that, how to create an amazing experience."

Advertisement

The shift to mobile "is a huge opportunity for Yahoo! because we have the content, we have the all the information people want on their phones," she said.

Advertisement

Mayer said, however, that Yahoo! will not be producing mobile maps, saying that there is a lesson from Apple's flop in that software.

"It's very expensive, it's hard to do well," she said. "Apple's finding that out. So we're not going to do maps."

Advertisement

Mayer said that Yahoo! will focus on things people want on their smartphones without trying to compete in areas such as hardware and operating systems.

"When you look at what people want to do on their phone, you can read it from top to bottom," she said. "It's mail, weather, check stock quotes, check sports scores, watch videos, share photos, check the news."

Advertisement

Yahoo!'s lack of some features "is a real opportunity for us to partner," Mayer said.

"We don't have a mobile OS, we don't have mobile hardware, we don't have a social network, we don't have a browser, which means we can partner with the best people."

Mayer, who disclosed after taking over as CEO that she was pregnant, said that caring for her baby is "way easier" than she had anticipated and that Yahoo! "is a really fun place to work."

She said that in order to meet her obligations she has to "ruthlessly prioritize" which means avoiding most news interviews.

"It's God, family and Yahoo!, in that order," she said.

Mayer was due in Washington Wednesday, one of several executives to meet with President Barack Obama on economic growth and deficit reduction.

 

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Hubble Observes Massive Stellar Eruption from EK Draconis, Hinting at Life's Origins
  2. One Piece: Into the Grand Line OTT Release Date Revealed: What You Need to Know
  3. Nishaanchi (2025) Now Available for Rent on Amazon Prime Video: What You Need to Know
  4. Scientists Detect Hidden Magnetic Waves That Could Explain the Sun's Mysterious Heat
  1. Hubble Observes Massive Stellar Eruption from EK Draconis, Hinting at Life’s Origins
  2. Scientists Detect Hidden Magnetic Waves That Could Explain the Sun’s Mysterious Heat
  3. Scientists Propose Space-Based Carbon-Neutral Data Centres for Sustainable Computing
  4. SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch of Private Griffin Moon Lander Pushed to 2026 Amid Testing Phase
  5. Russian Cosmonauts Complete Second Spacewalk to Install New Experiments on ISS Exterior
  6. Tsinghua Scientists Create Light-Powered AI Chip Running at 12.5 GHz
  7. LIGO Detect Possible Second-Generation Black Holes with Extreme Spins
  8. Scientists Stunned as Earth’s Magnetosphere Shows Reversed Electric Charge Patterns
  9. One Piece: Into the Grand Line OTT Release Date Revealed: What You Need to Know
  10. Ballad of a Small Player Streaming Online: Know Where to Watch This Collin Farrell Starrer Movie
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.