Yahoo may be rapidly losing relevance with consumers, but it is not going down without a fight. CEO Marissa Mayer has announced that the former giant is now working on the creating more personalised search results under a project simply known as Index.
The announcement was made during an earnings call, where it was revealed that Index would be an Android app that follow’s Yahoo’s Aviate launcher. It is intended to function as a personal assistant; similar to Google Now, Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Of course, many may think that Yahoo is a little late to the game in this context.
Context is what Index will be all about. Yahoo will scan its massive history of user behaviour, which the company says is extremely substantial as some users have been using its email service for over 20 years (as compared to the 10 years of Google accounts). This should, in theory, provide Index with plenty of information for customising search results and making suggestions.
Of course, this would require Yahoo to scan the email correspondence of its users; which may not go as the company expects. Google is occasionally accused of reading user emails because of the way that its advertisement algorithm scans for keywords in order to display ads that are relevant to users’ searches and conversations. Walking into this ethical argument is not something that Yahoo would want while it is still trying to regain its competitive edge.
There is no word on how long it will take Yahoo to get Index going, but it will be interesting to see if the company can use this to get people interested in it again.
[Source: The Verge]
