Guest: Marco Boerries - Yahoo
Host: Michael Johnson - PodTech

Michael Johnson - PodTech
This is Michael Johnson, and we're here at Yahoo. I'm joined today by Marco Boerries, who is the Senior Vice President of Connected Life. Welcome to the podcast.

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
Thanks for having me, its great to be here.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
Recently Intel had, what they call, the idea of the Intel Developer's Forum. Now for those who were not able to attend or read the news about it. Can you tell me a little bit about what Yahoo demoed at the event?

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
Yeah. Intel and Yahoo have been working really close together to create, to really create the leanbig (ph) internet, as we call it, based on the UMPC platform. The Ultra Mobile PC is a great platform for us, because we believe based on the huge reach of the PC, ecosystem is really a great way to extend that reach, and that ecosystem into the mobile world. So we've been showing at IDF Yahoo! Go for that Ultra Mobile PC which allows you to access the popular Yahoo services, whether its local, news, video, music, sports, or your email on the Ultra Mobile PC, but in a very rich use experience.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
This is a pretty big step for Yahoo, maybe you could tell me a little bit about what Yahoo's particular vision for the UMPC category is?

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
So the UMPC fits in an all broader Connected Life vision that I run for the company, because what we do here at the Connected Life groups is really making sure that we create rich user experiences that allow people to connect their Yahoo services through their devices. So not through a browser running on any device, but really having a rich client experience, and we do those on what we call the Yahoo! Go brand. We do those for mobile, we do those for TV, we do this on the desktop, and now as part of this relationship with Intel, we're also creating a version of Yahoo! Go for the Ultra Mobile PC.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
Now, let's talk about some of those differences of -- what would the difference be, say running Yahoo! Go on PDA versus the UMPC, which is kind of a new area for a lot of people.

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
So the great thing about the Ultra Mobile PC is that you really have the richness of the PC there. So that means that, when you run Yahoo! Go on the phone, your SD phone gets more popular, and they get more powerful, but it's still a little constraint environment from the computational and power when you compare to the Ultra Mobile PC. So when you look at Yahoo! Go on the Ultra Mobile PC, its superrich in terms of media, full screen video, full motion, full rich graphics, rich animation, because it's a very powerful environment, and that's really the great thing about the Ultra Mobile PC is it's really 'a take my media to Go'. I see it complementary to the cell phone, not in competition to the cell phone, because I still have my cell phone with me in my pocket. So Yahoo! Go on the internet is really your internet in the pocket, but then with the Ultra Mobile PC it's really like, it's a richer environment that you have with you.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
What are some of the other benefits that the user really gains from the Yahoo! Go platform, because it's obviously, we're delving into a whole new area of computing right now, really taking it with you, more than I think sort of trying to punch things out on a very small cell phone device.

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
So, Yahoo! Go on the Ultra Mobile PC is really, number one: it's a big screen compared to the cell phone, it has high resolution, full motion, you can do full motion video. Then on top of the Ultra Mobile PC being a mobile device, you've got full location based services, that means through that location -- through the GPS nature, it is in the device. You have wireless internet access which gives you broadband wireless to the device. So, it is just a very powerful system, so what we could do with the Yahoo! Go on that Ultra Mobile PC is, develop a very rich user experience that rivals that you get on your -- the one that you get on your PC, but the user, actually its hard to describe it in words, is done for the user interaction method you have on the Ultra Mobile PC. So it's more graphical, it is designed for pen input, it's designed for two hand input rather than having a keyboard. So really, it really blends into the device, and that I think is what made Intel so excited about working with us on this, that we really, rather than just taking Yahoo Property and making it run in a browser on the Ultra Mobile PC. We really work together and say, what is the user experience supposed to be when you now have this power portable PC in front of you called the Ultra Mobile PC.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
That's a real paradigm shift I think right now, because I think people are so use to, maybe folks on Smart phones, or kind of used to a little bit more of that, but this is a whole another world that's opening up. How do you think people are going to react to really using this powerful device, because it's something new and different?

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
Absolutely. I think its different than an Intel PC, and I don't think its going to be used the same as a PC, because it is different and it has a lot of characteristics which -- the mobility aspect, the location and where aspect. We see with lot of new technologies, obviously its going to be earlier adopters being use first, but as Intel and its partners are driving the cost for these devices down, which always happens based on More's Law in this industry. Plus as the fun factor gets smaller and smaller and smaller, we'll really see in two or three years this device being way, way smaller, and fitting really in my jacket pocket, and what I have with me most of the time. This is really -- I think this will change the way people will interact with the internet. The internet will connect to anything that has a heartbeat, a digital heartbeat so to speak. Now having this powerful thing in my jacket pocket, in addition to what I do with my phone, is really going to be a great way to consume media, and consume services on the internet.

The other things which is going to change is, I think that with the ubiquity of WiFi and YMX going forward is, this device will always be connected. So what's going to happen, what we believe is that there you're going to see a significant change on how people consume media. I think media consumption will change very much, and we saw that from the internet. The moment that people had access to the media's through the internet, consumption of media, individual media consumption changed significantly. We believe we're going to see it through with the Ultra Mobile PC the same thing, around stuff like music, video, TV shows, because the moment I've an always connected on device, I can now start sharing stuff with my friends. I mean not sharing the content, that would be illegal, but sharing playlist, sharing favorites, and a much more social environment, that all comes when you're always connected, and now I'm connected on the Go. So we're really excited about this, but nobody has the lens in the future there yet definitely. So we're going to try certain things, and I'm sure some stuff will work, and I'm sure some other stuff we will have to refine to make it work.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
You may not have the lens on the future, but you got a pretty good view I think from up here.

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
We at least have a opinion.

Michael Johnson - PodTech
Marco Boerries is the Senior Vice President of Connected Life at Yahoo. Thanks for being with us on the Podcast today, and we'll look forward to what develops in the UMPC field as you collaborate with Intel, that's great. Thank you.

Macro Boerries - Yahoo
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.