A New Acquisition for Yahoo in IQ Engines
September 22, 2013
Our globetrotting leader tells me he had trouble accessing Yahoo in Europe just last week. Nevertheless, acquisitions continue, as the company announces in, “Yahoo Buys Image Search Specialty Startup” at Yahoo UK & Ireland Finance. Service? Well, maybe later.
The startup in question is IQ Engines, and Yahoo plans to incorporate their tech into Flickr (which Yahoo picked up back in 2005). The press release tells us:
“IQ Engines is known for software that analyzes, sorts, and categorizes images using techniques including facial recognition. In May, Yahoo unveiled a dusted-off design of its Flickr photo platform with chief executive Marissa Mayer saying her goal was to make the online service ‘awesome again.’ Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo has been on a buying spree since Mayer became chief last year with a mission to revive the withering Internet pioneer. The list of more than 20 acquisitions includes Qwiki, a New York operation behind an application that converts video and pictures on iPhones into sharable movie clips complete with music soundtracks. Yahoo in June completed a billion-dollar deal taking over the popular blogging platform Tumblr, a move aimed at bringing more youthful users into the company’s orbit.”
Yes, “more youthful users” are an important commodity for Yahoo, which has indeed been going through some changes since Marissa Mayer took over last year. The CEO’s strategy also includes increased emphases on mobile devices, video services, personalized content, and the company’s reputation overseas. We have one suggestion for Mayer—focus a bit more on service, so Yahoo can retain existing users while pursuing new ones.
Founded in 2007, IQ Engines is based in Berkeley, California. Their image recognition platform, merrily titled Glow, automatically tags and arranges users’ photos and is designed to integrate with both mobile and web applications. The company professes that Glow can recognize people, objects, landmarks, and text within images. We can see why Yahoo wants to add that capability to Flickr.
Cynthia Murrell, September 22, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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