The word is out, Yahoo has acquired XoopIt. Well for those of us who have heard of XoopIt just now, it’s a third-party app that won Yahoo’s Open Hack Day in December which Yahoo has teamed up with to develop Yahoo Mail’s “MyPhotos” app. If you don’t know how “MyPhotos” work, it won’t do you any harm if you check it out from your Yahoo Mail account.As for Yahoo’s reason for acquiring XoopIt, Yahoo’s official corporate blog stated that this will facilitate an easier way of sending photos via Yahoo email as well as for sharing photo albums with friends and family members. XoopIt inside Yahoo Mail would help you better organize photos that you send and share via email.
Although, Yahoo is not disclosing the amount it paid for XoopIt, some sources say that it is close to $20 million. This raises some issues as to why Yahoo spent that much for a browser plug-in such as XoopIt. Another issue that arises was why Google let go of XoopIt. Yahoo after all is currently in a slump in terms of earnings and the least we expect that company to do is go on a spending spree.
Interesting move by Yahoo – it seems that they will do anything to try and up their ratings, even spending money on applications that may turn out to be unwise. Their figures actually appear to be on the up, based on some articles from yesterday discussing their profits for the second quarter, but analysts still don’t seem enthusiastic for the future.
This looks odd, how come Yahoo can spend that much money.
I agree, very interesting move from Yahoo. I wonder what they plan on doing with it.
Xoopit’s focus and development was entirely Google centered. Seems more an unwise decision on Xoopit’s part to jump at the first bid or offer. Regardless, does anyonehaveemail@yahoo.com?
Yahoos move is unsurprising, “oh, Xoopit is developing for Google, we want it… cuz Google might like it… “*crouch in corner wishing they were like Google.
Hi there – this is Bijan, one of the co-founders of Xoopit. Xoopit is an application platform and content indexing technology with embedded apps in various environments. We have a stellar MyPhotos application for Open Mail and experience for other systems. We look forward to extending their platform and evolving their mail experience. We have a very clear, big mission inside the Ymail team and are ready to deliver.
Interesting that there’s no mention of Flickr in any of this discussion. Yahoo, of course, owns Flickr, but they are not referenced at all in any of the official announcements.
Interesting post. Maybe is that Yahoo is trying to catch up rapidly with Google (Google Wave). Insteadof developing its own technology, just acquire existent technology…
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