According to numerous sources inside Yahoo, CEO Marissa Mayer has ordered up two under-the-radar initiatives - well, not to me and now you! - that could potentially get the company back into algorithmic search as well as search advertising.
Here's hoping that this is serious and not just some tactic to get more out of Microsoft. There's also a statement that this will possibly be focused more on mobile and not the desktop. Why would that be the case? The design could cover both, the big difference being the front-end (the webpage used) by end-users.
That makes sense, especially since Yahoo's share of search has continued to decline. Most recently, according to comScore, it fell to 10.8 percent, down 0.4 percent from November to December in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, Google's share rose to 67.3 percent and Microsoft to 18.2 percent.
This will hopefully send a message to any of those considering do business with Microsoft. Microsoft is desperate, especially when it comes to competing with Google. Don't do long deals. Retain your own technology and keep developing it even as your using Microsoft's. Make sure Microsoft is responsible for making up the difference between what they promise and what you actually get.