Developers are making a mad dash to finish their first Apple Watch apps before the wearable goes on sale in April. Yahoo is among those looking to make a big splash with must-have apps, and when it comes to bringing you the news, the company is hoping you’ll want it in bite-size chunks.
Yahoo’s Nick D’Aloisio sat down with Bloomberg today to talk about how digesting the news is going to change once you slap a tiny Apple Watch screen to your wrist. To bring long-form news to wearers, D’Aloisio says Yahoo Digest will focus on giving you the most salient pieces of a story, accompanied by little visual elements called atoms.
Watch Nick explain the news revolution Yahoo plans to unleash:
D’Aloisio claims Yahoo got a head start on development of its Apple Watch app after being approached by Apple to start working on something before the wearable was announced in September. However, later in the interview Nick admitted Yahoo had “no idea what the form factor or anything was prior to the announcement.”
It will be interesting to see how publishers approach the Apple Watch. It doesn’t include a web browser, so new monetization methods will have to be devised in place of web-based ads. Circa and Snapchat seem well-positioned for sending bite-size bits of info to your wrist, but can Yahoo nudge its way in? Tell us what you think about reading news on Apple Watch in the comments below.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
8 responses to “How Yahoo plans to blast your Apple Watch with news”
Clearly the only people who would think this is a good idea is Yahoo. They don’t get it at all.
I loved their weather app. But then the ads happened.
Actually, I think its a pretty good idea. Little snippets of news that will allow you to determine if you want to delve into the story further on your phone using Apples hand off feature.
Like home screen widgets, but easier to get to, and use right on your wrist. And allot smarter. Location awareness etc.
I think this watch will end up being a pretty big deal. And I hope many of its features come to the iPhone, especially Glances, and Force Touch.
It may not be the worst idea in the world but really depends on the implementation. Quick scrolling though targeted and relevant headlines and being able to save the ones you are interested in to Pocket or Safaris reading list would work. The issue becomes is it really that much more convenient to do that on a watch or simply pull your phone out and read full articles unhindered? The watch is perfect for quick glance info but why you would want to perform tasks like reading even shortened articles on such a small screen is where things get a little silly.
Agreed, I would rather whip out my phone or even my iPad to read lengthy articles. And how annoying will it be if your watch pings every 15 – 20 seconds? I would break the watch if it notifies my about news posts constantly… I think this is a revolutionary device, how people will use it will determine it’s success.
Yahoo has been struggling to be relevant for many years now. Marissa Myers’s approach to the problem seems to be to throw money at as many ideas as possible and see if any stick. So far, none have, and I sincerely doubt this idea will catch on. No one ever said “I wish I could read my news on a smaller screen”.
First Yahoo destroyed Flickr, messed up their beautifully designed Weather app for iOS with blinkered adverts, and now want to pollute the Apple Watch with pop up ads? What else does Marissa Mayer have up her sleeve? I can’t believe they’re pursuing Apple to become the default search engine for Safari… what will we have in return… more pop up ads is what. Good riddance to them, and let’s hope they’re banned from doing any such thing on the Apple Watch.
Merissa Mayer seems desperate to get the results for her share-holders. Apart from the weather app, which is also ruined by ads, Yahoo seriously lack creativity. They must do something unless before being irrelevant.