Yahoo opens new home page to external developers

Yahoo is opening its newly redesigned home page to external developers so that they can build applications for it, the company said Tuesday.

The integration of the Yahoo Application Platform (YAP) with the new home page is part of the company's ambitious Yahoo Open Strategy (YOS).

Announced in April 2008, YOS is a project to open all of the company's online services, sites and applications to third-party developers. YOS also aims to give end users a "social profile" dashboard to unify and manage their Yahoo services.

Yahoo has in the past worked with select partner developers to create home page applications, such as AOL, Google, eBay, MySpace and Facebook.

However, by integrating the new home page with the YAP, any developer will be able to create applications for the home page, as long as the applications meet Yahoo's terms of service. Developers will be able to promote their Yahoo home page applications on their own sites by featuring an "Add to Yahoo" button.

Yahoo already worked with some select developers to build some applications for the new home page, including Mint.com, Flixster, Wordpress and Target.

"By building apps, you can drive traffic to your site, acquire new users, and increase awareness of your brand," wrote Xavier Legros, YAP product director, in an official Yahoo blog.

Beyond the first batch selected by Yahoo, developers who attend the company's Open Hack Day in New York next month will get first crack at building home page applications using the YAP, a spokeswoman for the company said in an e-mail.

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