Just a short while after Apple and News Corp. announced their collaboration to produce a tablet newspaper called The Daily, Yahoo has announced its new publishing platform, which it calls Livestand – a digital newsstand for tablets and mobile phones.
Rather than producing the content itself, however, yahoo is offering its platform to publishers and advertisers who want to offer up their content for selection by users based on their interests and preferences. A personalized tablet or mobile newssource, if you will. Sort of like an RSS feed, if you ask us.
Yahoo says Livestand will allow the “seamless” distribution of content across tablets and mobile phones “in an experience that is elegant and personalized to the individual.”
Of course, yahoo already has rather a lot of content in its network, including Sports, News, Finance, Flickr, omg!, and the Yahoo Contributor Network.
Blake Irving, executive vice president and chief product officer for Yahoo said the firm had gone down the tablet news delivery route because “adoption of tablets and mobile phones is exploding, and digital media isn’t keeping up.” In his opinion, “consumers can’t find the publications they buy off the newsstand, and publishers and advertisers can’t reach the audiences they want to serve.” Frankly it’s news to us that people are still buying their news from news stands rather than browsing for it online, but perhaps Yahoo has the inside scoop.
The firm certainly believes it has invented the latest and greatest product for tablets in terms of mobile marketing, modestly proclaiming, “As the premier digital media company, we’re in a position to meet all of these needs.”
Irving believes users will be blown away by the “immersive environment” Livestand offers, as well as its dynamism and level of personalization.
We’ll withhold judgment until we’ve seen it in action. Until then, don’t stop the presses.
