Yahoo on Thursday hosted its first conference for mobile application makers, adopting a strategy used by rivals in a push to be at the heart of mobile Internet lifestyles. More than 1,000 people attended a Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference where the Internet pioneer unveiled a new suite of services designed to help developers improve and profit from applications tailored for smartphones or tablet computers.
"Mobile went from a hobby, to becoming a core part of our business," Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer said during a keynote kicking off the one-day gathering in San Francisco.
Since taking the Yahoo helm in 2012, Mayer has made a priority of adapting the Silicon Valley company's products and services to mobile devices.
Internet titans including Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, and Microsoft have made a practice of hosting conferences for outside developers whose creations are considered vital to staying relevant and hip on fickle technology terrain.
Yahoo Mobile Developer Suite combined technology from Flurry and digital ad firm BrightRoll, which the company bought last year, according to senior vice president of advertising products Prashant Fuloria.
The analytics firm Flurry "has a deep understanding of the mobile developer's needs and the mobile ecosystem, and Yahoo is a place with an enormous audience across devices and sophisticated technology," Fuloria said.
"We are sharing a lot of great content alongside our partners and clients, and our main event is the launch of a new suite of products that makes it easier for mobile developers to analyse, monetize, advertise and enhance their apps." The move comes with Yahoo seeking to refocus its efforts around mobile and media, after falling behind in the battle for Internet search. The company has announced plans to spin off an entity controlling its stake in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, which represents the lion's share of Yahoo's value.
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