Today, Yahoo introduced two new search tools, one a new online search engine for finding new mobile applications, and the other a mobile app called AppSpot (iPhone, Android), which does the same. According to a Yahoo blog post, the goal of these new services is to help you better sort through the some 425,000 mobile applications on the iTunes App Store and the 200,000 apps on Google’s Android Market so you can find the app you need.
But will Yahoo’s efforts prove better than any of the existing services that already do the same?
Yahoo’s app search debut is not surprising. With the ever-growing number of mobile applications out there, there’s definitely a need for more refined interfaces that let you dig deep into app store catalogs to surface apps in easier ways than by using the tools the official stores provide. You might even say this is the next big vertical in search.
But Yahoo is joining an already-crowded field with its app search and AppSpot offerings. A number of startups are also angling for app search dominance in this area, including the likes of competitors Chomp, Quixey, AppStoreHQ, Appolicous, AppsFire, Zwapp, Frenzapp, AppBrain, Xyologic and many others.
So what will Yahoo do differently here? With Yahoo’s search tools, the company says it will retrieve matching app titles and show you descriptions, price and star ratings from users. This isn’t entirely unique. But it also helps you find app you might like, based on the apps you already use – similar to Genius on iTunes, or say, the app recommendations from Boxcar.
Yahoo’s app search tools use its search assist technology for fast auto-completion, show related apps and provide download links, too. But nothing Yahoo has launched today stands out as a truly one-of-a-kind technological app search innovation. Instead, it’s just a handful of pleasant-looking interfaces for app discovery. Of course, we’ll need to put Yahoo’s tools through their paces for some time before we know how they really compare to the others.
There is one thing that stuck us as odd about this whole deal: Yahoo is already a partner with Appolicious, makers of a competing product. Why wouldn’t Yahoo leverage that current relationship if it wanted to get into the app search space? We’re looking into that now, and will update as we learn more.
