Yahoo! Announces New Apps on HTML5 for Android

Not much was known about HTML5 until Apple (News - Alert) announced its support for the technology in its latest release of Safari browser (Safari 4). InfoWorld Daily recently reported that HTML5 will change many aspects of life on the Web.

 

"Most importantly, HTML5 tags will displace plug-ins for simpler jobs, at least some of the time, and it will open up advanced capabilities to a larger audience. It might even make the Web more secure, more efficient, and more adaptable," the report said.

 

Yahoo!, another major player in the Web arena, is now joining Apple to support the emerging HTML5 with the introduction of new Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger apps for Android (News - Alert) as well as a Yahoo! Search Widget for Android leveraging HTML5. 

 

The company has also announced faster and richer Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News sites for iPhone (News - Alert) and iPod Touch, company officials said.  

 

The new mobile products will provide the hundreds of millions of consumers who rely on Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Search, and News with seamless, integrated experiences on their mobile devices, the company said.

 

The availability of Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger apps for Android and by leveraging the latest in HTML5, Yahoo! is making connection between the people around the world easier than ever for consumers to access fast, reliable, and feature-rich Yahoo! experiences across some of the fastest growing platforms in the market, the company said.

 

Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! News are now built on HTML5 to give consumers a faster and more sophisticated mobile browsing experience. The upgraded Yahoo! Mail offers consumers a Web mail experience that is fast and reliable and that easily surfaces rich content. Yahoo! Mail is optimized for iPhone and iPod Touch and is expected to be available across other Web kit-enabled browsers in the future.

 

The Yahoo! apps for Android provide more than 300 million Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger users with the best communication experience for easily accessing and sharing information on Android phones. It optimizes a visually stunning interface as well as new functionality and other enhancements for the Android platform. The Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger Android apps are available globally as free downloads available in the Android Market, supporting OS 2.0 or newer.

 

Yahoo! News includes an all-new layout with animated visual effects and navigation that uses touch gestures to deliver a compelling news experience. Yahoo! brings the news to life with photos, slideshows, and video features, and provides consumers with an option to explore related articles. Currently available in the U.S. on the iPhone or iPod Touch browser, the product is expected to become available in additional countries and on additional devices, the company said.

 

The Yahoo! Mail app for Android also offers advertisers an opportunity to reach a highly engaged mobile audience. Samsung (News - Alert) is the inaugural advertiser with a rich media display advertising unit, according to Yahoo! officials.

 

With support from major companies like Apple, Google (News - Alert), and now Yahoo!, HTML5 will develop much faster than expected, industry experts commented. Earlier this year, Google's YouTube had announced limited support for the technology.