Yahoo! plans to open up its mobile Web platform to enable outside programmers to develop applications that can be embedded in Yahoo! Web pages. This measure, targeted at the mobile phone community, aims to increase Yahoo!’s (News - Alert) popularity in the mobile phone arena.

 

Over the years, Yahoo! has been losing its foothold in the personal computer landscape to companies like Google (News - Alert), and in an attempt to regain some of its lost luster in the mobile phone applications area, Yahoo! plans to spruce up its mobile Web platform and introduce measures to increase its popularity amongst mobile phone users.

 

It plans to allow outside developers to develop applications, known as “widgets,” that can be placed in Yahoo! pages and can be made accessible via mobile phone applications. Yahoo! also plans to revamp its home page with exclusive content suitable for mobile phone users. The users can choose to have certain material highlighted on their mobile phones too.

 

The popular Yahoo! Go software that lets users have important Yahoo! services on the mobile phone will also be upgraded soon. Yahoo! believes the Go software provided Yahoo! an early advantage in catering to an estimated three billion mobile phone subscribers around the world.

 

It is now betting more programmers will be interested in working on its mobile platform, because it has the potential to reach billions of phones, said Cory Pforzheimer, a Yahoo! Spokesman

 

“We intend to be the pioneers for the mobile internet in the new millenium,” Pforzheimer said.

 

Yahoo! hopes that the increased popularity of its mobile Web platform will increase traffic to its Web site and pave way for increased revenue through advertising. According to research firm eMarketer (News - Alert) Inc., U.S. spending on advertising is bound to increase and current values are estimated to triple to about $4.8 billion in 2011.

 

Jerry Yang (News - Alert), Yahoo!’s Chief Executive was expected to discuss in greater detail the new roadmap during an address at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Yahoo! is very hopeful that the new changes will result in a turnaround in its rankings. However, it should also expect stiff competition from its rival, Google, which pioneered a similar process couple of months ago. Google’s similar software package, “Android (News - Alert),” is expected to be launched later this year.