Yahoo! Eyes Television as a Chance for Success

While Google continues to dominate the search engine industry, and Microsoft has been making advances in mobile, Yahoo! is eyeing a different avenue for exposure—television. Yahoo is looking to bring internet content to TV. BusinessWeek reports: “the company announced a range of televisions and related products loaded with software…that would let users call up popular Web pages and tools right alongside programs they’re watching on TV.

This software, referred to as TV Widgets, will help users multitask to their best potential. Users can check on different sites like Yahoo! weather and stocks, as well as update their statuses on social networks like Myspace or microblog via Twitter, all while catching their favorite TV programs. TV Widgets will be installed in a handful of broadband-capable high-definition televisions and set-top boxes made by Samsung Electronics, Sony, VIZIO and LG Electronics. Yahoo!’s TV Widgets will also foster creativity, as a toolkit released by Yahoo will allow content creators develop their own widgets. Yahoo!’s drive towards TV appears to be going in the direction of success.