Yahoo hooks up the mobile, PC and TV

Yahoo chief executive Terry Semel unveiled Yahoo Go at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that will make personal information available across the PC, television and mobile phone.

All devices pull the information from existing Yahoo services including the calendar, Yahoo Photos, Yahoo Messenger and address book. An internet connection is required to access the service.

"We believe that the internet is not a web page or a destination for your PC anymore. It's an infrastructure and a delivery vehicle for communications and experiences and entertainment and any kind of data that you use on the internet, " Semel told delegates at CES.

"The next iteration is about ease of use and open platforms that connect the internet to any device."

Information currently accessible only through a web browser will be unlocked for the mobile phone and television through Yahoo Go.

Creating a central storage for data accessed through an internet connection eliminates the need for the user to synchronise devices. It also prevents data loss if a device is misplaced or stolen.

Users will have to store all their data on the Yahoo services to be able to benefit from the universal access, however. Devices will also require specially crafted software to access the service.

Users who rely on desktop applications such as Outlook or Lotus for their personal information are locked out. Yahoo Go also does not integrate with competing online information services such as Plaxo.

• Consumer Electronics Show 2006: News, views, reviews and blogs
• CES Blog: Yahoo keynote picture by picture

Yahoo has signed partnership deals with Nokia and Motorola that will see both phone makers adding support for the service to their phones. The first Motorola phones will become available this quarter.

The service will be made available on Nokia phones that run the Series 60 operating system, which are typically higher end models. Yahoo did not disclose a projected shipping date for the Nokia phones.

The Yahoo Go Mobile service will automatically upload pictures taken with a phone camera to the online Yahoo Photo service through the phone's data connection.

Semel insisted that this will be a useful service because most users do not know how to get their photos off their phones.

The Yahoo Go TV service requires a Viiv computer connected to a television set. The service is expected to become available later this quarter, and will provide access to additional Yahoo services such as Yahoo Music and movie trailers.

The portal firm also talked up Yahoo Widgets, which the company acquired earlier this year through the purchase of Konfabulator.

Widgets are small applications written in JavaScript that display data from a local system or off the internet. A widget warns the user about upcoming calendar appointments, for instance, or displays the latest weather forecast.

• Consumer Electronics Show 2006: News, views, reviews and blogs
• CES Blog: Yahoo keynote picture by picture