Yahoo has launched a new standalone iPhone weather app called Yahoo! Weather, along with an upgraded version of its Yahoo! Mail app that brings the native mail app experience to the iPad.
The weather app is by far the more interesting development, receiving praise from many reviewers and users. The Verge reports that Yahoo is attempting to get a halo effect from apps like Yahoo! Weather, hoping users will try one product and love that one so much that they'll begin using other Yahoo services.
"Marissa describes it as a chain reaction," said Adam Cahan, who leads mobile products at Yahoo, in an interview with The Verge. "I would love for you to use all 12 or 15 experiences that we're going to build for. You probably won't. But if I can get you to use a few, that's success. If we do something that you really love in one product, you'll give us a chance on another product."
Yahoo Weather represents one such attempt to delight users into giving the rest of the company's products a try.
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Last week it was reported that Apple and Yahoo were in talks to deepen their iPhone partnership, but that the two companies are some ways off from a deal. Yahoo currently powers the default iOS stocks and weather apps, as well as providing data like sports stats to Siri.
The new Yahoo! Mail for iPad is available free on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Yahoo! Weather is a free download for the iPhone. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
The UI is great; minimalistic but provides detailed info with a flick. This is the first time I've ever stopped using Apple's default weather app.
Maybe I'm too literal, but I consider "Direct Link" to mean "a direct link to the App Store" and not an indirect link to a middle-man website (AppShopper) that makes money off of iTunes Partner Program referrals.