In a bid to compete with rival firms such as Google, search engine provider Yahoo! is set to announce that it will open up some of its mobile software and services to external programmers and publishers.Speaking today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company will reveal the strategy, which is intended to make its mobile offerings more useful.
In addition to generally "improved performance", third parties will now be able to add their own software to Yahoo!'s mobile platform, meaning anyone can create a widget for mobile website suite Yahoo! Go.
As a result of Yahoo!'s strategy, users will now have easy access to applications from other companies as firms create programmes that run on top of Yahoo!'s own mobile services.
Because of this increased choice and flexibility, Yahoo! hopes that more people will choose its services over those of its rivals.
According to Sam Jadallah, a partner at venture capital business Mohr Davidow Ventures, "It's a standard pitch - build on our platform because we have the most ubiquity," the New York Times reports.
However, while Mr Jadallah described it as a "smart and ambitious strategy", he went on to say that it is also "very difficult to pull off".
He stated that becoming a software platform could prove particularly difficult for a firm such as Yahoo! that does not control any phone's operating system.
