At CES in Las Vegas, Yahoo! Chairman and CEO Terry Semel introduced Yahoo! Go TV, promising to bring the power and depth of the Internet to the PC-connected television screen.
Yahoo! Go TV, which is expected to launch in a few months as a free application, integrates Internet services, including video search and photos, into the television. The local client would run on a PC, such as the new Intel Viiv platforms. Key features will include:
- Yahoo! Video Search — quickly search, find and view Internet videos
- Yahoo! Photos and Flickr
- My Yahoo!
- Yahoo! Movies — search for playtimes at local theaters or watch movie trailers; find movies from the DVR, television or DVD player
- Yahoo! TV — including Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functionality with trick play features and access to the PC for storage of content; and full TV tuning capabilities to control TV channels
Yahoo! will also extend much of the same functionality to mobile phones. Yahoo! Go Mobile, which is expected to become available to consumers in select markets in the coming weeks, will be launching with AT&T and Cingular Wireless in the United States and with Nokia in multiple international markets. The companies also plan a co-branded AT&T Yahoo! Go Mobile service designed to allow new and existing AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet subscribers to take their personalized Internet experience with them on their Cingular Wireless mobile device. Following the launch, consumers will be able to purchase the service pre-installed on new Nokia 6682 devices from select Cingular Wireless stores.
Key features of Yahoo! Go Mobile include:
- Yahoo! Messenger
- Yahoo! Mail
- Yahoo! Search (local, web and image)
- Yahoo! Photos
- Yahoo! Address Book
- Yahoo! Calendar
- Yahoo! News, Sports, Finance and Games
A video podcast of Semel’s keynote is online.http://podcasts.yahoo.com/