Yahoo (YHOO) isn’t putting up barricades, but it does want its users to enter its various services using Yahoo keys. The Internet giant is starting to require users to sign onto products such as the photo-sharing Flickr site using Yahoo credentials. Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG) IDs will be phased out over time. “Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience, which includes our sign-in process for Yahoo Sports Tourney
Apple pioneered the modern tablet computer, but manufacturers using Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system are the ones bringing the device to the masses. Market research firm Gartner on Wednesday said Android surpassed Apple’s iOS as the top tablet operating system in 2013. Vendors sold 121 million Android tablets last year, accounting for 61.9% of the global market. Apple (AAPL) sold 70.4 million iPad tablets, making up 36% of the market. A year earlier, Apple had 52.8% tablet market share to Android’s 45.8%, Gartner said. In 2013, worldwide sales of tablets to end users totaled 195.4 million units, up 68% over 2012. Android tablet sales rose 127%, while Apple tablet sales rose 15%. Microsoft ‘s (MSFT) Surface tablets were a distant No. 3, with sales of 4 million units last year, or 2.1% market share. In 2012, it sold 1.2 million tablets, for 1% of the market. Tablet sales growth in…
Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg was applauded on Wall Street for his gutsy decision to spend $19 billion on fast-growing mobile messaging app WhatsApp. But to regular Joe comedians, Zuckerberg is a laughingstock for spending so much on a 5-year-old startup company with 55 employees and 2013 revenue said to be $20 million. The deal, announced Feb. 19, dwarfed the price of any single acquisition ever done by a host of tech giants, including Apple (AAPL) Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO). New “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon poked fun at the deal last week. “Some major business news,” he said. “Facebook bought a messaging app called WhatsApp – WAZ-UP – for $19 billion in an effort to hold on to teenagers who no longer think Facebook is cool. Yeah, WhatsApp. Cuz nothing says ‘cool’ like an app named after a Budweiser commercial from the ’90s.”