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Google apps aren't usable, says Yahoo! 28 Feb 2007
Poor usability is the main reason why Google apps like Gmail and Google Talk haven't been taken up by the masses, according to Jeff Bonforte, Senior Director of Real Time Communications (or IM, as most of us would call it) at Yahoo!
"They don't have this intimate connection in usability with consumers that Yahoo has had for 10 years. When it comes to consumer applications, no-one is more successful than Yahoo hands down. And it happens over and over and over again. In every application, we are number one or two."
Is Bonforte right? Are Google's products less user-focused? Well it's hard to say for sure, as Yahoo! has had a significant headstart in terms of developing, releasing and promoting some of these products. However, the stats, at least, do seem to support Bonforte's conclusion. December market share data from Comscore shows that Gmail has 60 million users worldwide, while Yahoo Mail has a massive 507m users. A similar story is shown in the instant messenger market, where Google Talk has 3.4m users, while Yahoo's equivalent has 77.9m users (making it second only to MSN Messenger with 181m users).
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11 comments so far
edbong 28 Feb 2007 01:23 PM
Yes... but what really beats it for Goolge is the Google API... for example we are developing an FREE open source "business application platform" (think salesforce.com). Our first application is working tightly integrated with GOOGLE APPS. http://www.applicationexchange.com.
Noble 1 Mar 2007 04:36 AM
Sounds funny when this comes from yahoo. It would help yahoo to do some introspection on the same. Just see how long it takes for the new yahoo mail to load and how cluttered and sluggish the UI is.
Simon 1 Mar 2007 01:56 PM
Noble: Yep, Yahoo! is by no means perfect.
sam 13 Mar 2007 02:21 PM
The Internet is a really fast paced world and from the past, it can be seen that its not the one who has the most no of users who can boast for long. its the one with the best strategy. My personal opinion is that for now, Yahoo's strategy in the area of their software development for the web as well as their own software has not really been on par with MS or Google for that matter.
They've been busy yeah trying to get the developers but i think not enough yet, so I don't think Yahoo has enough clout in terms of no. of developers for their apps for now. And I believe this is an important area since a healthy web-based business environment needs to have that aspect of the users contributing back to their company wherever the company can not totally put all their resources into.
hmm, not sure if I'm making sense but basically I'm just saying its important for web based companies especially larger ones to have a system that is sustainable and with the fast pace of the web, the open source and/or developer arena for these companies will be an increasingly important area for the companies software ecosystem.
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