MANILA – Yahoo has just shuttered the Philippine homepage as part of a major product restructuring across all markets in an effort to streamline the company.
Amotz Maimon, Chief Architect at Yahoo, said that the IT giant will focus on three major sectors – search, communications and digital content. This means that other products out of those areas are at risk to be on the chopping block.
“Part of that focus includes taking a hard look at our existing products and services, and ensuring our resources are spent smartly and with a clear purpose. Ultimately, we want to provide you with the best products, platforms and experiences possible,” Maimon said.
Yahoo Philippines and genre-specific media sites has already been redirected to the Yahoo Singapore homepage, adobo confirmed. Other market-specific Yahoo media properties that will be shuttered in the coming weeks are Yahoo Music in France and Canada as well as Yahoo Movies in Spain.
At the end of June, Yahoo TV in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Canada as well as Yahoo Autos in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy will also close. In early July, Yahoo Entertainment in Singapore will be axed.
The news came around two months after Yahoo axed its editorial team in the Philippines after operating for six years. Other recent Yahoo offices that have closed down include Yahoo Beijing last March and Yahoo Indonesia in December.
Heartbreaking for developers, Yahoo Pipes will also be shut down at the end of August. Launched back in 2007, its lets users build web-based apps that can aggregate RSS feeds from different sources.
Other products Yahoo will be axing are Yahoo Maps at the end of June and The GeoPlanet and PlaceSpotter APIs, which let developers integrate maps into their applications. Users can no longer sync Yahoo Mail from older iPhones or Yahoo contacts from older Macs.
