MOBILE

Google profit climbs with online ad revenue

Google said its profit climbed to $3.35 billion in the first three months of the year as revenue thrived despite a trend toward cheaper ads on smartphones and tablets. “We had a very strong start to 2013, with $14.0 billion in revenue, up 31 percent year-on-year,” said Google chief executive Larry Page.

Google shares that ended the official Nasdaq trading day slightly down regained ground in after-hours trades to $777 with a profit figure that topped Wall Street expectations.

The number of paid clicks on ads posted at Google pages was 20 percent greater than those seen in the first quarter last year and up three percent from the final quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, in a closely watched figure, the cost per click for advertisers dropped four percent, indicating a trend toward less expensive mobile ads.

Google executives lauded the earnings in a conference call with financial analysts but spent ample time highlighting “big bets” ranging from Android mobile gadget software to self-driving cars and Internet-linked glasses.

“Over the last two years we have worked hard to increase our velocity and improve our execution on the big bets that will change the world,” Page said. “Companies can tend to get comfortable doing what they've always done with a few minor tweaks,” he added. “But incremental improvement is guaranteed to be obsolete over time. That is why we are investing in what appear to be speculative products today such as self-driving cars.”

AFP

Yahoo! dumps Deals coupon service in house cleaning

Yahoo! announced it is getting rid of coupon service Deals and the “Yahooligans” Internet guide for children while it cleans house.

“Today, we are shutting down a few more products,” Yahoo! platforms executive vice president Jay Rossiter said in a blog post.

“By making tough decisions like these, we can focus our energy on building beautiful products for you like the two we introduced this week -- Yahoo! Mail for iPad and Android tablets and Yahoo! Weather for iPhone.” Yahoo! Deals will be shut down at the end of the month, along with SMS Alerts and a Yahoo! Kids Web guide, originally named Yahooligans.

Yahoo! Mail and Messenger apps for feature phones will also be continued on the last day of April in another sign that Internet-linked smartphones are taking over the market.

Old versions of Yahoo's free email service will stop being available the week of June 3, according to the Sunnyvale, California-based firm.

Yahoo! in February was given a makeover tailored by style-savvy and engineering-smart chief Marissa Mayer.

Web pages long cluttered with low-brow ads were redesigned to highlight news of interest to visitors, along with feeds of what is getting attention online.

Yahoo! has also been focusing on putting its products and services center-stage on smartphones and tablet computers.

Mayer took over in July at Yahoo! after 13 years at Google, having been hired as the 20th employee and first woman engineer at the company that went on to be the new king of Internet search.

AFP