AppleInsider Staff
It was reported on Tuesday that Apple and Yahoo are reportedly in talks regarding how to better integrate the search company's various services into iOS, building on existing features like sports scores and weather information.
While Apple already uses data from Yahoo Finance, weather and sports stats to power various first-party apps, including its Siri virtual assistant, sources tell The Wall Street Journal that the two companies are looking to expand their partnership.
According to a person familiar with the discussions, data from Yahoo News and other Yahoo Web properties could be "preloaded" onto Apple's iOS devices, with much of the focus being directed toward Siri functionality. Currently, Yahoo's presence on iOS is limited to the Stocks app, the Weather app, a search option in mobile Safari and sports scores as accessed through Siri.
The Journal points out that no concrete deals have been made and the talks are still their early stages.
Although speculation, Apple could potentially be looking to further deprecate Google integration in iOS, replacing existing services with those from Yahoo. With iOS 6, Apple made clear that it is looking to expel Google from first-party apps, as the company deprecated the search giant's data from the Maps app and removed the built-in YouTube app, both of which were iOS mainstays since 2007.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
40 Comments
Well Jony and Marissa are BF now so maybe that's how this got started. ;) [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/23309/width/200/height/400[/IMG] [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/23311/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
Maybe if Apple bought Yahoo they could make quite an interesting future together. iYahoo?
[quote name="Rogifan" url="/t/156889/apple-reportedly-discussing-deeper-yahoo-service-integration-for-ios#post_2307681"]Well Jony and Marissa are BF now so maybe that's how this got started. ;) [images][/quote] Would you say they're deeply integrated? [quote name="digitalclips" url="/t/156889/apple-reportedly-discussing-deeper-yahoo-service-integration-for-ios#post_2307692"]Maybe if Apple bought Yahoo they could make quite an interesting future together. iYahoo?[/quote] I think Apple is better off partnering with them. I would like to see Yahoo! make a comeback, especially at the hands of Mrs. Mayer.
Apple didn't ditch YouTube to spite Google (as it did with Maps). Google wasn't interested in providing videos without ads, and terminated its iOS deal in order to launch its own YouTube app. It's also noteworthy that Yahoo is on Apple's short list of internet accounts (with Gmail, MS Exchange & AOL) and sharing services in OS X (which includes Yahoo's Flickr but not Google Picassa, and Vimeo but not YouTube, Facebook & Twitter but not G ). OS X & iOS 6 don't currently allow 3rd parties to add support for their own "sharing sheets." This may change this year as the system matures, or it may be Apple's way of pushing exclusive support agreements. Compare the fact that Apple lets Safari users search via Google, Bing or Yahoo but not any other search engine of their choosing (and Google pays Apple millions for this traffic).
[quote name="SolipsismX" url="/t/156889/apple-reportedly-discussing-deeper-yahoo-service-integration-for-ios#post_2307699"] Would you say they're deeply integrated?[/quote]lol I don't know but the look on Mrs. Ive's face is...interesting. :p