Buried in the Yahoo – Microsoft – Google fight over who’s going to control Yahoo, its search engine and Yahoo Mail & Messenger tools which are a starting place for hundreds of millions of Internet users is the news that AOL has purchased Goowy Media : a startup which specialized in simplified widget creation and “webtop” tools for email, calendars and instant messaging and has become a very important part of the MyAOL model at AOL (which is a major Google partner… at least right now).
While the big boys on the block are duking it out over Yahoo, AOL (which seems to be getting more and more powerful) is making a play to further integrate and fortify its content, messaging, search and mail network onto the desktops of its users.
Goowy CEO Alex Bard posts on the yourminis blog (part of Goowy Media) :
We have been working closely in partnership with AOL since early 2007. During this time, we’ve had an opportunity to see AOL grow and evolve as a company. For this reason, among others, we’re thrilled to announce that AOL has acquired Goowy. We are all incredibly excited about the opportunity to be part of the AOL team.
AOL’s vision and focus on consumer engagement, content and advertising align directly with our suite of products. As a part of AOL we will have access to an amazing array of resources, which will enable us to continue the advancement of our syndication and analytics platform, while creating more dynamic widget experiences for our clients and end users.
We have had so many great conversations with AOL about enhancing the user experience, delivering relevant content, increasing engagement and breaking glass, which we can’t wait to share with you over the coming months. We could not be more excited about the opportunity in front of us to be part of the continued success of a leading global company.
