After being in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, Internet giant Yahoo Inc. has now entered the browser war arena by announcing the launch of its visibly rich search tool titled ‘Axis’ which is aimed at the widely growing mobile web market. With the launch of Axis, currently available as a standalone app for all Apple devices and as a typical browser for traditional desktops, Yahoo is aiming to redefine the company’s goals and objectives.
Understanding Yahoo’s Mobile First Focus: As part of its redefined business strategy, Yahoo is now focusing on the ever increasing mobile web market after slowly losing its traditional search engine leadership to Google and Microsoft’s Bing. Understanding the fact that traditional boundaries needed to be pushed, Yahoo it seems has understood the fact that mobile world is where all the action is and it is likely to expand exponentially. Even with all the glossy hand held devices and tablets, mobile web browsing was still struggling to turn a corner. Yahoo’s launch of its mobile browser Axis may very well be the start of something unprecedented for mobile users.
Axis USP: Weaving Browsing and Search Functionality: There are a number of traditional web browsers like Firefox, Safari and Google’s chrome that not only beat Yahoo but took browsing to the next level offering customized plugins and user rich functionality. Learning from the past, yahoo’s web browser Axis not only focuses on easing mobile browsing but has powerfully interwoven search functionality into the browser resulting in a killer product. Still not convinced? Let’s take a detailed look at how Axis can change user browsing and search experience for hand held devices as well as on traditional desktops.
Overview of Working Functionality of Axis
Yahoo Axis Mobile: Yahoo Axis is currently available as a mobile app, available for download in the App Store, works for all apple devices including the iphone and the ipad. Yahoo has announced that it would soon launch its app for other platforms including Android as well as windows.
Yahoo Axis appears as a small search box that can be used to browse to any website or used as a search engine. Typing keywords bring suggested results in a drop down menu but the final search results however do not appear as links but in the form of thumbnails previewed in a filmstrip format. The main search box also showcases most trending searches making it easier to search for common trends. A simple tap on the thumbnail would open the respective page while swiping the thumbnails take the user to the next page. Axis has also interwoven image search results making bookmarking and Pinterest integration work like a breeze.
Yahoo Axis Desktop: On the desktop version, Axis appears as a small search box in the bottom left corner of the browser window, allowing people to keep using whatever browser they like. Switching between hand device and Desktop? No problem says Axis: A massive interweaving feature of the Axis is to allow continued search and usage across the iPhone or the iPad and the pc. Yahoo Axis is the first product that can connect and resume search and browsing functions on any HTML5 based browsers including Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome or IE and allows the user to continue searching irrespective of the device.
Positive First Impression: The launch of Yahoo Axis has been well received from both the critics as well as the technology geeks. With the launch of Axis just days after Microsoft revamped Bing search results and a week after Google launch of Knowledge Graph has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons with more refined product development on the cards. The browser wars are heating up for sure but the end user may just end up as the winner.
