Yahoo's purchase of Aviate, a company specializing in developing adaptive home screens for Android device, may be a clear indication that the company plans on competing with Google's Google Now service.
There are many launchers and customizable home screen apps currently available on Google Play and Aviate happens to be one of the more popular options. While the purchase has been confirmed by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at the CES 2014, no details were released regarding how much money was involved in the purchase.
Aviate's home screen can adapt to certain situations customizing a smartphone's home screen in a manner best suited for what a person is currently doing. The app determines specific categories for certain apps and adds these apps into "spaces" to adapt to current needs. If a user gets inside a vehicle for example, Aviate can activate certain apps such as GPS maps or music players. In a home or work environment, Aviate will also adapt accordingly.
"We hope to make Aviate a central part of our android-based experiences in 2014 (and beyond), and we are committed to continued innovation on the product," says Yahoo in a blog post.
"We envision homescreens becoming smarter, more personalized, aware of your context," says Yahoo. "Aviate helps us bring this vision to fie. Aviate auto-categorizes apps on you Android phone and intelligently gathers them into spaces."
Aviate is still in its beta stages. However, Yahoo announced that they would allow 25,000 users to test the app in the early stages of development. To activate Aviate's beta version, interested parties can use the code provided on Yahoo's Tumblr account.
"We envision homescreens becoming smarter, more personalized, aware of your context," says Yahoo. "Avaite helps us bring this vision to fie. Aviate auto-categorizes apps on you Android phone and intelligently gathers them into spaces."
Yahoo's acquisition of Aviate can be seen as a sign that the company is yet again pursuing an aggressive stance when it comes to the smartphone and tablet markets. While the company has hinted of plans to further improve Aviate's home screen app, no news has been announced regarding integrating the app into Yahoo's current crop of mobile-based offerings. Expect more developments from Yahoo and Aviate in the coming months.
