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.
