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Yahoo’s push for assets has taken two more steps forward with acquisitions in the conference call and the iOS photo apps spaces. First up was the photo app from GhostBird Software, followed by the more significant Rondee IP-based conference call acquisition. Terms were not disclosed but they will not be on the same scale as the $1.1bn paid for Tumblr (see Will Tumblr make Yahoo ‘cool’?). Rondee is a six year old company providing conferencing facilities for free.
It looks like Yahoo plans to progressively close the Rondee service down from June 30 so this appears to be another push for talent and technology rather than directly claiming market share and customer base. At a basic level the acquisition starts to put Yahoo in the same space as the likes of Google Hangouts and Skype, but as far as we are aware Rondee does not support visual comms which is where the action is in the IP conferencing market. Yahoo would have to make many more acquisitions to compete effectively. That may be the plan in the conferencing, and the mobile area, where several of Yahoo’s recent acquisition-spree purchases have been – and that is the nub of the matter. At the moment the strategy behind the many purchases is not apparent. No doubt CEO Marissa Mayer has a goal and is keeping it under wraps while she assembles talent but the mobile and communication/collaboration markets are moving at such a rapid pace that time is not on Yahoo’s side.
