At Yahoo!, we’re focused on creating deeply personal digital experiences and there’s no doubt that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, priorities for us is to bring those products and ideas to the mobile user, whether they’re using feature phones, smartphones or tablets.

We’ve got some amazing mobile experiences, from News, Sports and Finance, to Mail, Messenger and entirely new products like IntoNow and Livestand. Our commitment is to deliver these products in ways that help all of our users (and advertisers) enjoy engaging and seamless experiences across all the devices they use.

Our plan is to keep moving, to keep innovating, and to continuously measure and scrutinize what’s working and what isn’t – so we can make room for great new products. In that spirit, today we’re decommissioning several of our current mobile apps. We will be sending a notification later today that the following apps will no longer be supported:

• Yahoo! Meme (iPad and iPhone)
• Yahoo! Mim (iPad)
• Yahoo! Answers (Android)
• Yahoo! AppSpot (Android and iPhone)
• Yahoo! Deals (iPhone)
• Yahoo! Finance (BlackBerry)
• Yahoo! Movies (Android)
• Yahoo! News (Android)
• Yahoo! Shopping (iPhone)
• Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (iPad and iPhone)

We’re moving forward with a “mobile first” mindset. You can expect to see more new Yahoo! mobile products in 2012, especially in areas ripe for innovation that build on Yahoo!’s strengths, such as companion experiences for TV like IntoNow, new ways to experience personalized media like Livestand, and some of our most popular and useful mobile apps like Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Sportacular and Flickr, which are already being used by millions of people around the world. And we’ll be building these experiences with disruptive technology that’s going to change the mobile game well beyond Yahoo!.

For apps such as AppSpot and Sketch-a-Search, we decided to integrate the key features you know and love into the Yahoo! Search app. For example, we recently announced the app search feature in the Yahoo! Search app for iPhone. Stay tuned for more updates to the mobile search apps for both iPhone and Android.

With more than 700 million users around the world, we’ve got a huge and growing audience. We’re going to bring them the Yahoo! they love on every device in their life.

Stay tuned for a lot of action from Yahoo this year. 2012 has just begun and we’re just getting started.

– The Yahoo! Mobile Team

In only six short weeks since Livestand’s debut in the App Store (picked as one of Apple’s featured apps), we’ve added in more entertaining features and popular titles to give you an even more personalized digital newsstand. And we’re still not finished – we’ll continue to iterate the app as we hear back from users like you!

In that spirit, here’s a look at what is new in the app today. To download the updated app or try it out for the first time here, visit the App Store for Livestand.

• A new recipe finder in Shine from Yahoo! so you can browse recipes and create handy shopping lists. Cooking for a holiday celebration? This is a great time saver.
• Local deals from your favorite sites like Groupon, LivingSocial or Bloomspot are now seamlessly integrated into Yahoo! Today and Shine from Yahoo!.
• New Guest Mode to allow you to take a tour and experience Livestand without signing in.  It’s now a lot easier for your friends and family to take a peek at what Livestand would be for them. Just make sure to get your iPad back when they’re done!
• Twitter integration to share articles, videos and more with a few taps. Simply log into your Twitter account through “Settings” on your iPad and start socializing.
• New publications, including:
  • Shine from Yahoo!
  • Technology Review published by MIT
  • The Ticket from Yahoo! News (a new title focused entirely on the 2012 Elections)
  • Minyanville
  • Victorian Christmas
  • Big Think

We have big plans for Livestand in the coming year and will always be creating new ways to more relevant, more personal for you.  We’ll be adding new capabilities (many of which you’ve let us know you want), and of course, a lot more great content that you’ll want to jump into every chance you get. 2012 will be a busy year!

Have a healthy and happy holiday season,

The Livestand team

For those heavy texters out there, we are excited to introduce Hub, a fast and easy-to-use mobile messaging app that allows you to send text messages and have group conversations for free. Hub allows you to easily add participants to any conversation thread so it’s easy to switch from private messaging to a group conversation. Whether it is just keeping up with a close group of friends or making spontaneous plans, you no longer have to deal with scattered messages.

What’s more, Hub allows you to send messages to anyone without incurring any text messaging fees. Yes, you heard us right. There are no text messaging fees – messages are sent over WIFI or using your data connection – and Hub is device agnostic, which means you can communicate with anyone on any mobile device as long as you have their mobile phone numbers. Your friends are not required to download the app in order to reply to your messages although they are strongly encouraged to do so in order to enjoy the full feature set!

Key features of Hub include:

• Group Messaging: Enjoy group conversations with several friends at once
• Local and international SMS messages: Send text messages to other Hub users or any mobile phone for free†
• Privacy: Easily view and add participants to any conversation thread
• Message any phone: Your friends can reply with any SMS enabled mobile phone
• Instant notifications: Get push notifications for incoming messages so you never have to miss a conversation

Hub is currently in beta and is available for download on the Android Marketplace. We are extremely excited about this release and can’t wait for you to get started. Try Hub today and let us know what you think!

Yahoo! Messenger Team

Note: Hub requires Android OS 2.1+ and is currently available only to users with a US SIM card and a text plan.

†This feature is currently available when sending to numbers in Canada, Indonesia, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam. SMS recipients may be charged by their carriers.

When the New York Jets visit the Denver Broncos tonight, Tim Tebow will again command the spotlight. Tebow, the Broncos’ second-year signal-caller, might be the most polarizing figure in professional football. But no matter your opinion, this much is clear: Colorado fans have faith in their quarterback. The Broncos are 3-1 since Tebow assumed the starting duties on Oct. 23 against Miami, reversing a 1-4 start to the season. Though his skeptics have been many, Broncos fans on Yahoo! Sportacular have not been among them – picking Denver to win in three of the past four games, all of which the Broncos entered as underdogs.

• Week 7: 87% of fans in Colorado picked Denver over Miami (versus 72% for all fans) – It was Tebow’s first start and Denver won in overtime thanks to a great finish by Tebow.
• Week 8: 62% of fans in Colorado picked Denver over Detroit (versus 24% for all fans; with fans in all 49 other states picking Detroit) – This time the naysayers were right as Denver got crushed 45-10.
• Week 9: 50% of fans in Colorado picked Denver over Oakland (versus 20% for all fans) ­ Denver won and Tebow rebounded to play well.
• Week 10: 77% of fans in Colorado picked Denver over Kansas City (versus 43% for all fans) ­ Denver won 17-10. Tebow only completed two passes, but one went for a long touchdown that proved to be the difference in the game.

Indeed, it appears fans in Colorado on Sportacular have a knack for predicting Bronco wins. Will the streak continue tonight? We’ll see. As of this morning, 76% of Colorado fans are picking Denver to beat the Jets, who are coming off a crushing loss to rival New England and are playing on just three days rest.

Of course, fans in Colorado aren’t the only ones going social with the 2011 football season, for both college and pros. Football fans everywhere are holding tight to their iPads and smartphones like running backs breaking for the end zone, using them to smack-talk with friends, make predictions, chat about what’s happening on the field, and stay current on sports news.

Nowhere is that trend more evident than with Yahoo! Sportacular, the only sports app in the iPhone Hall of Fame. To give you a feel for the social buzz around the country this year, we aggregated data from some of the interactive features to uncover facts about the most socially active mobile fans, and how they’re engaging with the 2011 football season. Check them out:

• Most social city: Las Vegas is the most engaged city so far this football season based on game check-ins and predictions made (any idea why fans in Las Vegas are following the scores of football games so closely?).
• Most social state: Nevada ranks as the most engaged state.
• Predicting the wins: More than 7.8 million football game predictions have been cast to date.
• Most popular NFL game: More fans checked in to the Sept. 26 game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins than any other game this season.
• Most popular NCAA game: The Nov. 5 showdown between then-#2 Alabama and #1 LSU received more check-ins than any college game this season.

Finally, according to a recent survey conducted by Yahoo! Mobile & Razorfish, 58% of men are “fact checking” on their mobile web browser while at live sporting events, with nearly half (47%) checking scores of other games and players.

Download Yahoo! Sportacular on your iOS or Android device today to be part of the action.

Livestand

One of the stars of the show was Livestand from Yahoo!, a personalized living magazine designed first for iPad and available to download today, free from the App Store in the U.S. Livestand weaves together content from more than 100 publications, including, ABC News, Forbes, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance and omg! – with more being added every week.

And the more you use Livestand, the more personalized it becomes. It’s easily tailored to your own passions and interests, wrapping great content in a visually rich, stunning design that features videos, photos, and intuitive navigation. Livestand is also built on many of Yahoo!’s most important technical innovations. If you’re a techie kind of person, head on over to our Yahoo! Developer Blog to hear about the newest of these technologies, Cocktails.

We’re so excited to show it off. Take a look at this video we pulled together and don’t forget to check out Livestand.com.

IntoNow for iPad

Next up: IntoNow from Yahoo! for iPad. More than a million people have downloaded the popular TV companion experience for iPhone/Android, and today we’re bringing that experience – and more – to iPad.  We all love to cuddle up with our iPads or smartphones while watching our favorite shows. IntoNow for iPad has just made TV watching even more engaging, social, and fun. With one-touch, it quickly identifies what you’re watching through its context-aware SoundPrint technology, and whether its live or recorded shows, IntoNow instantly offers up related content and tweets, personalized TV recommendations, and seamless discussions around your shows with friends via Facebook. Check it out here.

Yahoo! Weather for Android

Rounding out today’s mobile launches was Yahoo! Weather for Android, available today in 35 languages and 62 countries.  It all started at an internal Yahoo! Hack Day just four months ago as an idea created by some Yahoos looking to give folks a way to “see” the weather outside without taking their eyes off their phone. How? Flickr, of course. The new Yahoo! Weather uses Flickr to bring weather to life with corresponding photos that match location, time of day and current weather conditions.

No Flickr experience would be complete, though, if we didn’t also find a way to bring in the amazing Flickr community. That’s why we also announced “Project Weather,” a new crowd-sourcing project that you’re all invited to join. With six weather conditions per city, for both day and night, and for a global roll-out…well you get the picture, it’s a lot of images! We’ve started it off with complete images for several cities, but we need your help going global.  So, if you want your photo to be the “sunny day in LA” or “it’s raining in London” image, join in the effort now!

It might always be sunny down here in Sunnyvale, but to check out the Weather near you, go check it out here. It simply has to be seen to be believed.

Yahoo! Sports has been the undisputed fantasy sports industry leader for several years running, and this year Yahoo! is making things even better. In 2010, mobile fantasy football fans more than doubled from 2009, according to Yahoo! data. Additionally, a recent survey conducted by Yahoo! Mobile and Razorfish shows that more than 76% of men go online while at live sporting events to check out scores of other games, research stats, or look up player information.  This season, some of the functionality you’ll see across the four experiences includes the ability to:

• View and manage rosters in real-time, seamlessly across screens
• Real-time scores, stats, and breaking news across the NFL
• Fantasy Football video reports, including live breaking pre-kickoff updates with Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football Live (http://fantasysports.yahoo.com/ffl) on Sundays
• Fantasy Football advice from experts Brandon Funston, Brad Evans and Andy Behrens

All 2011 season apps will be available in time for the first NFL regular season game. In the meantime, search for “Yahoo!” in the iTunes App Store or Android Market to discover industry-leading apps, such as Sportacular, IntoNow, Flickr and dozens more. With more than 100 mobile partnerships, you can find your favorite Yahoo! experiences on nearly every mobile device and platform.

Cheers,

Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Team

We think you’ll love IntoNow’s Android app. Using patented SoundPrint technology to identify previously aired and real-time TV content, the new Android app allows people to easily chat with friends, discover new shows, and get TV recommendations based on their interests.

Plus, all the tech and fashion savvy mobile users will be excited to learn that the launch of the Android app kicks off IntoNow’s integration with Lifetime Television’s mega-hit “Project Runway,” allowing viewers to unlock free digital content and engage in real-time conversations with friends and other fashionistas.

To download the free IntoNow from Yahoo! app for Android, search for IntoNow on the Android Market and head over to Yodel Anecdotal for even more details: http://ycorpblog.com/2011/07/28/intonow-2/.

Cheers!

IntoNow from Yahoo! team

Identify

Identify allows you to identify the songs you hear anywhere – on the radio, in the club or around town.  Using proprietary audio fingerprinting technology, Play by Yahoo! Music helps you build the ultimate library by enabling you to I.D. new music and share your discovery with friends.  Play by Yahoo! Music offers single song I.D. as well as continuous mode – allowing users to identify a series of songs played in a row automatically.

Yahoo! Music News

Play from Yahoo! Music leverages clean and lightweight user interface to deliver the latest news from your favorite artists as you listen. Tap on the Artist News button from any song from the Now Playing view and you’re immediately brought to a listing of updated information on the artist you’re listening to right in the Play app.

Smart Shuffle

Using unique behavior-based recommendation technology, Play by Yahoo! Music can learn your musical taste and tailor playback to your mood.  Select a song to set the mood, or if you’re not sure what you want to listen to, Play by Yahoo! Music’s smart shuffle technology takes control and figures out your mood by taking cues from your past listening behavior.  By understanding your tastes, Play by Yahoo! Music creates smarter, more customized playback for each individual user without any star ratings or thumbs up cues other players require.

Other features of the Play by Yahoo! Music app include, Twitter and Facebook status updates, automatic cover art cleanup, and smarter search through custom technology that auto-corrects for misspellings to ensure the fastest, most accurate results possible.

Play from Yahoo! Music is now available in the Android Market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.yahoo.player

Rock on!!

Cody Simms, VP, Entertainment & Lifestyles Global Product Management

The new Yahoo! Maktoob mobile homepage brings together the best of the Web with the best of Yahoo! Maktoob, in a single mobile destination. Initially, consumers in the region will have access to the Arabic and English versions of the Yahoo! Maktoob homepage, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Search, and Maktoob News and then eventually localized versions of properties like Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Finance. As more and more people come online in this region, we’ll be looking to create content and other services tailored for this vibrant and emerging part of the world.

As the premier digital media company, we see a huge opportunity in the growth of the Web in the Middle East and North Africa through more locally relevant Arabic content, products and advertising. We’re passionate about growing our mobile presence in the Middle East and in other emerging markets, where new to net users are coming online primarily through mobile devices.

Below are two screenshots of the Maktoob Mobile homepage in Arabic. Click on this link to see what it looks like on your mobile device: http://m.yahoo.com/?.intl=xa

We look forward to introducing many more Yahoo! Mobile products in Arabic and to continue growing our footprint in the Middle East.

Salam (peace) … سلام

Olivier Gillin, Mobile Product Manager

At Yahoo! Mobile, we understand how challenging it can be to find good apps if you don’t know the exact name of the app you want. Furthermore, searching for the right app out of the tens of thousands of possibilities requires multiple searches, downloads, and general uncertainty about the quality of app you download. Yahoo! AppSpot offers a new way to take the guesswork out of finding relevant and interesting apps for mobile users.

Some of Yahoo! AppSpot’s best features include:

• Daily Personal Picks: Unlike ‘Top Apps’ lists that provide the same apps day after day, you’ll get new, personalized app suggestions on a daily basis, so you’re always introduced to the latest, most interesting, and relevant apps.
• More Precise Results: Using Yahoo!’s sophisticated search technology, quickly zero-in on an app by showing matching app titles as well as related keywords as you type.
• Related Apps: Discover similar apps within the “more apps you’ll love” section to find related apps that best match your needs.
• At-a-Glance Shopping: Review the price, overall star ratings, screenshots, and description all on one screen to avoid the endless scrolling.
• Fast & Easy Downloads: Direct links to the specific app pages within the Apple App Store or Android Marketplace make downloading an app a snap.

Start discovering new apps today! AppSpot is available now for download on AppSpot for iPhone and iPod touch and AppSpot for Android. Also, for more information about AppSpot, as well as a new PC app search experience called Yahoo! App Search, please make sure to read the post on Yodel Anecdotal.

Anil Panguluri, Yahoo! Product Director of Mobile Search