Hey, Yahoo: Follow the Leader a Little Less Slowly
Is it just me, or does today seem like “Launch Services Our Competitors Created Two Years Ago” day for Yahoo?
First came news of Yahoo’s new Web 2.0-enabled online calendar. The company’s first major update to its calendar tool in a decade offers similar functionality to Google’s alternative — which, incidentally, was launched in 2006 — with a few added bells and whistles (namely a thus far limited Flickr integration option and a “zoom” function). Perhaps Yahoo should have been watching its own calendar more closely; this would have been far more impressive a couple of years ago.
Now, the struggling search site is showing off its — are you ready? — brand new Web Analytics tool! You mean, we can get data analysis for our Web sites…with a free online tool? My, the innovation! Google Analytics, once again, launched in 2006. Oh yeah, Yahoo’s Web Analytics is also thus far only being offered in limited beta to its registered Yahoo Small Business customers.
For a company constantly slipping in market share — recent research from ComScore showed Yahoo dropping almost a full percentage point to 19.6 percent of the U.S. search market in August, compared to Google’s 1 percent growth to 63 percent — you’d think Yahoo would try a teensy bit harder. For the love of Jerry Yang, if you can’t lead the way, Yahoo, at least follow in a more timely fashion.
