Yahoo plans open approach in 2009

Yahoo has laid out plans for a new approach in 2009, opening both its home page and Yahoo Mail email tool to other applications.

Speaking at a preview of its products for next year, European MD Toby Coppel spoke of the site's original purpose - organising information from the internet into a simple directory - and how the company plans to integrate information from other sources into its new home page.

"It's about bringing in the applications that you care about", he said. "Our strategy is bringing the best of the web right in front of you."

Previews of the new home page, which is currently being tested, showed a large 'My Applications' bar on the left side. Google Mail and AOL Mail have already created tools to work in the bar, and Yahoo claims that other services are "in negotiation" to appear as testing continues.

The new UK homepage also includes headlines from several major UK newspapers alongside those produced by Yahoo's own staff. "In Europe it's particularly important to get news from a variety of trusted local newspapers", explained the company's Janine Shaw.

Yahoo's Yahoo Mail email service will also be opened up in the new year, with an API - a system that allows programmers to create tools that work with a website and its information - being made available. This will be free for non-commercial use, and Yahoo demonstrated it with a tool that allows images from its Flickr photo-sharing site to be easily inserted into a message.

Yahoo Mail will also be revamped with a new interface that makes it simpler to prioritise messages from a group of valued 'connections'.

Other products due for 2009 include One Connect, a tool that brings together messaging and updates from social networking sites into one interface. The software, which is already being tested on Apple's iPhone in the US, will be available to try in the UK in early 2009.