According to Silicon Valley Insider, Yahoo wants to tap into the thriving community of independent developers by giving them selective access to Yahoo’s still-mighty user base:

Yahoo (YHOO) wants to build a similar symbiotic relationship with its own set of developers and startups. [...]]]>

According to Silicon Valley Insider, Yahoo wants to tap into the thriving community of independent developers by giving them selective access to Yahoo’s still-mighty user base:

Yahoo (YHOO) wants to build a similar symbiotic relationship with its own set of developers and startups. The pitch: Developers build tools to make Yahoo.com more useful, Yahoo puts developers and partners in front of 330 million Yahoo.com visitors.

Will it work? Can Yahoo re-invent itself as a home for developer talent? Don’t count on it. Lest we forget, Sunnyvale has already demonstrated that it just doesn’t get innovation anymore.

Yahoos Pitch To Startups And Developers YHOO.

It is only live in the Bay Area and Seattle for now, but I can see this taking off as users flock [...]]]> In a move taking us one step closer to Japan, Starbucks’ new iPhone app lets you pay for your purchase at the register by displaying a scannable barcode linked to your account:

It is only live in the Bay Area and Seattle for now, but I can see this taking off as users flock to the idea of having an all-in-one payment device.

Starbucks App Uses Your iPhone to Pay for Lattes – starbucks iphone app – Gizmodo.

In an astounding announcement, Facebook reveals that 65 million users now interact with the site through mobile applications:

Facebook Mobile first started as a simple mobile site in English with a few of the core site features built in, such as status updates and photo uploads. Since then, we’ve grown far beyond what was [...]]]>

In an astounding announcement, Facebook reveals that 65 million users now interact with the site through mobile applications:

Facebook Mobile first started as a simple mobile site in English with a few of the core site features built in, such as status updates and photo uploads. Since then, we’ve grown far beyond what was then a fairly basic mobile site. We have translated the mobile site into other languages, launched Facebook SMS and deployed a wide range of applications for hundreds of mobile handsets, including Facebook for Blackberry, Facebook for iPhone and Facebook for Nokia.

Those who use Facebook mobile apps remember the bare-bones features initially offered through the service (basically, you were allowed to update your status.). With the latest iPhone app, you can now access nearly every feature of the regular site through your phone. This stands in stark contrast to MySpace, whose mobile app suffers from an excess number of ads, and whose much-celebrated deal with Helio has disappointed since inception.

via Facebook | Facebook Mobile: Now Connecting 65 Million People.

MySpace is in talks to acquire music app producer iLike for $20 million, according to PaidContent. This would be the latest in a long history of acquisitions that began shortly after the christening of Fox Interactive Media, and will likely follow the time-worn pattern of FIM acquisitions:

Actually, the interesting thing here [...]]]>

MySpace is in talks to acquire music app producer iLike for $20 million, according to PaidContent. This would be the latest in a long history of acquisitions that began shortly after the christening of Fox Interactive Media, and will likely follow the time-worn pattern of FIM acquisitions:

1. Buy.
2. Neglect.
3. Rinse & repeat.

Actually, the interesting thing here is what this deal says about MySpace Music:

This also puts into question the future of MySpace Music, which was set up a separate JV between MySpace and music labels. The launch, which was a pet project of Chris DeWolfe, hasn’t exactly taken off, and with the new management team in place, it is likely the days for the JV are numbered.

This is the strongest hint yet that the much-touted JV may not be living up to expectation.

MySpace in Advanced Talks To Buy Music Recommender iLike | paidContent .

Social gadgets let you share, collaborate and play games with your friends on top of all the things you can already do on your homepage. The 19 social gadgets we’re debuting [...]]]> Google announced some major changes yesterday to its iGoogle site. Social gadgets are embedded widgets which connect you to other iGoogle users in social settings:

Social gadgets let you share, collaborate and play games with your friends on top of all the things you can already do on your homepage. The 19 social gadgets we’re debuting today offer many new ways to make your homepage more useful and fun. If you’re a gaming fanatic, compete with others in Who has the biggest brain? or challenge your fellow Chess or Scrabble enthusiasts to a quick match. Stay tuned in to the latest buzz with media-sharing gadgets from NPR, The Huffington Post, and YouTube. To manage your day-to-day more efficiently, check things off alongside your friends with the social To-Do list gadget.

In case you are wondering how Google intends to scale-up a widget gallery with all of its cost-cutting and tightening of the ROI belt, its blog entry outlines its growth strategy:

It’s developers who have really made iGoogle into the rich experience it is — growing our gadget directory to over 60,000 gadgets today — and we know iGoogle developers will help us quickly expand our collection of social gadgets.

In other words, it is going to follow in the rich tradition of Facebook and iPhone apps by giving developers an open API in which to design away.

For those who remember, it was the temptation to provide its users with richer content choices that led Yahoo astray a decade ago. Now it appears that Google is on the same slippery slope. So far, its homepage has remained more-or-less pure and free from clutter, but as more users switch over to iGoogle from its traditional, minimalist search page, Google will have to find a balance between content and search.

Social apps are already live for Australian iGoogle users and US users will be migrated over the next few weeks. Here’s Google’s video on the subject of social apps:

via Official Google Blog: I scream, you scream, we all scream for iGoogle social!.

The surprising nugget was that a full 20% of respondents claimed they discovered apps through ads in other apps. If true, this could [...]]]> According to AdMob, iPhone and iPod Touch users discovered the 1.5 billion apps they’ve downloaded through search and browsing, which is hardly surprising. (What else could it be? Recommendation engine? Social recs?)

The surprising nugget was that a full 20% of respondents claimed they discovered apps through ads in other apps. If true, this could point the way for companies hungry to promote their brands through iPhone apps. Instead of relying upon the Field of Dreams school of product promotion (“If you build it, they will come”), they could promote their apps through targeted advertisements in current popular apps which offer the best spillover effects. (Of course, determining spillover potential is an art unto itself.)

Now, a couple of caveats:

• This was a small survey (n=190).
• AdMob has a vested interest in driving cross-app advertising sales.

So take these results with just a little grain of salt.

via CHART OF THE DAY: How Do iPhone Users Discover Apps? (AAPL).