Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Yahoo! Adds eBay Application to New Homepage Test

Yahoo! has introduced an eBay application to the “My Applications” dashboard area of the new yahoo.com homepage they’ve been testing since September. Yahoo! began user testing with a random fraction of their user-base in four different countries: U.S.A., United Kingdom, France and India to see what folks would want most out of a next generation Yahoo! homepage.

The “My Applications” dashboard area is a new feature that consolidates some cool online apps (both on and off Yahoo!) for easier access by users. The eBay application is the newest one to be added to the list and Tapan Bhat, of Yahoo!’s Front Doors team has blogged about it over on Yodel Anecdotal (Yahoo!’s corporate blog).

According to Tapan…
Demonstrating how we’re opening our homepage to third-parties to make your life simpler, we’re adding a new eBay application to the “My Applications” dashboard area. It will provide an “eBay Anywhere” experience, letting people quickly monitor their eBay buying and selling activities, including checking recent bids or getting reminders about auctions that are about to close. They can also as search for and find new eBay items right from within Yahoo.com.

Here is a screencast that introduces users to the new homepage. The eBay application preview begins at 1:19.

I don’t know what Yahoo!’s plans are to make this available beyond the user group but will be sure to let folks know once I do.

Cheers,
RBH

Tagged: ebay, ebay blog, eBay Ink, ebay ink blog, Front Door, Tapan Bhat, yahoo, Yahoo! Blog, Yodel Anecdotal