Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) launched an intelligent home screen app called Yahoo Aviate, which simplifies phones powered by the Android operating system of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
The intelligent home screen app is expected to strengthen the position of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) in mobile contextual search. The tech giant acquired Aviate earlier this year, and eventually lauched the app on Google Play today after several months in beta.
Yahoo Aviate has a new look and offers some new features such as showing new snippets from Yahoo News Digest app and actual calendar entries with single-touch acces. It also allows users to dial a conference call number or get directions to their next appointment.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) integrated Yahoo Aviate with Donna, an intelligent calendar app purchased by the company in January. The intelligent home screen app also shows weather forecasts from Yahoo Weather, and it provides a new way for users to text or call their close friends and family. Yahoo Aviate presents icons of people whom the user frequently communicate with through calls or text messages bu simplify swiping on their home screen.
Aviate co-founder, Paul Montoy-Wilson said, “We learned in our beta period that 40 percent of app opens were related to communicating with people.” Montoy-Wilson and his co-founder Mark Daiss decided to integrate content that are beneficial for users not just the contents created by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO).
“We knew at Yahoo there would be content we could use from within Yahoo, but Aviate will still put in front of you whatever the best content is for that specific context is. We will remain very agnostic,” according to Daiss.
In addition, Daiss said users touch Yahoo Aviate 50 times per day. He said “There’s no interface you touch more in your life.” He added, “When you work on a home screen, the engagement is so good.”
Some people considers Yahoo Aviate as one of the best home screen app available for phones with Android OS version 4.0 and above. Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is expected to release more changes and compatibility updates soon.
Last month, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) acquired Blink, a mobile messaging app that has the ability to self-destruct messages or chats shared by users.
