Yahoo reportedly readying a new messaging app

Google's Marissa Mayer Named Yahoo CEO

According to Re/code journalist and technology columnist Kara Swisher, the Internet’s pioneering company, Yahoo, will announce a brand new mobile messaging app at a forthcoming media event.

The press conference is apparently scheduled for later this week, but the company has yet to formally announce it.

“It’s likely a messaging app,“ Swisher wrote on Twitter this morning. Yahoo’s press event should be held in New York City and serve as a launchpad for new consumer products focused on mobile.

The follow-up revelation came after yesterday’s Re/code article which speculated that Yahoo might reboot its Tumblr mobile app or redo some of its other high-value properties such as Flickr, its popular photography service.

For what it’s worth, Yahoo recently soft-launched a new chatting app on the Hong Kong App Store, called Yahoo Livetext. Available at no cost, the iPhone and iPod touch software promises to transform simple conversations into rich, fun and memorable experiences with text and live video, but without sound.

Despite a series of moves that have put Yahoo on the right track under the leadership of its controversial CEO Marissa Mayer, including focusing on mobile apps and selling its stake in Alibaba.com, Yahoo continues to be in a state of perpetual crisis.

For the June quarter, Yahoo reported a 15 percent annual revenue growth. The growth is greater than the company has seen in almost nine years, but it came at a price as Yahoo paid partners more heavily for search traffic.

And while revenue from mobile, video, native and social initiatives grew to nearly $400 million, revenue from search and display ads continued on a downward spiral.

Yahoo’s incredible leadership woes and unfortunate moves are well documented in an awesome book titled “Marissa Mayer and the fight to save Yahoo!” written by journalist Nicholas Carlson.

The book is available on the iBooks Store and Amazon.com.

As for Yahoo’s upcoming presser, I can’t help but wonder whether the world needs yet another messaging app?

Source: Kara Swisher, Re/code