The issue is before us if the once venerable power house known as Yahoo could ever mount a comeback. I answer they could if they could just get out of their own way. Yahoo has had a long standing tradition of fostering great technology only to fumble the marketing behind it. They have always lacked a cohesiveness and exuberance that Google had.
Google has always been the leader in ripping off Yahoo’s ideas and making them part of their burgeoning empire. Google has even been so brazen to steal product names directly from Yahoo. Remember Yahoo had bumbled Buzz long before Google did the same. Yahoo had their widgets engine available years before Apple integrated dashboard into Mac OS X or Microsoft built gadgets into Windows. Of course these things existed on XWindowing systems that run on UNIX like operating systems (FreeBSD, PC-BSD) or even Linux. Of course once again Google followed suit.
Let’s look at one of Yahoo’s core products email they lead the charge with one of the first webmail based systems. After years of Microsofts squandering they Hotmail product through numerous bungles Google develop Gmail end Yahoo’s shot live rein as the webmail leader. So how is it that time and again Google distills the greatness out of a Yahoo product?
There once was a time when Yahoo could have usurped the social media crown from MySpace long before Facebook opened up. Do you remember 360? It was a revolutionary social media mini-blogging solution that integrated into just about every aspect of Yahoo’s entire product line. Wait a second does this sound vaguely familiar to Google Plus?
Interestingly enough Yahoo has always been a leader in the areas of it’s folly and Google has continuously followed suit. There is one other product that Google is trying to steal from y! It’s Yahoo’s irrelevancy. Th problem is that while Google has spent a decade of stealing from Yahoo and protecting these technologies it has usurped much better than the originator ever did. Had Yahoo invested more in their email and social media systems they would not be in the situation they currently find themselves in.
Yahoo has a whole host of problems that stem from the abysmal leadership that set the course years ago and their corrections were absolutely ineffective. Time and again the board turned to ‘proven’ leaders while younger aggressive inexperienced upstarts out maneuvered them at every turn. This has progressed to a point where if you want to be successful in a technology simply look at Yahoo and don’t implement it as they did. It seems logical to me that in order to save Yahoo; Yahoo will have to do something that it hasn’t done since it first launched by becoming youthfully aggressive and extremely focused.
Apple was once near the brink of death but they were resurrected by the actions of a charismatic leader. Yahoo could to experience a revitalization if they drop the ‘For Sale’ sign bring on a new CEO who can see outside of the original box. A new path must be plotted and followed by the company. A CEO with real vision could establish that path but only if he/she gets the important buy-in by the entire organization. Most importantly the company must unhinge the MBA knows best mentality and become aggressive as well as protective about their developments.In short the company can not continue to be the developmental foundation of other companies.
There is still hope but only if they act quickly which is something that their management in it’s lethargy has been unable to do. They must find a vision that helps them learn from the failings of the past.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mikel King has been a leader in the Information Technology Services field for over 20 years. He is currently the CEO of Olivent Technologies, a professional creative services partnership in NY. Additionally he is currently serving as the Secretary of the BSD Certification group as well as a Senior Editor for the BSD News Network and JAFDIP.
Related articles
- Once a Leader, Yahoo Now Struggles to Find Its Way (nytimes.com)
- Yahoo Has No Easy Options For Making Consumers Interested Again (pcworld.com)
- Yahoo Fires CEO Carol Bartz–Here’s Why (forbes.com)
- With Or Without Bartz, Yahoo! Lacks Vision (forbes.com)
