[threeseed]

Yahoo reminds me a lot of Apple before Steve Jobs rejoined.

They don't need a turnaround artist like Gil Amelio they need an insanely great product person to bring back some innovation, creativity and attention to detail. Based on her experience and from what everyone says about her she should have been perfect. And I'm quite baffled why she's not managing to get any runs on the board.

[mdorazio]

But Steve wasn't just a great product person, and it wasn't just a great product that turned Apple around. If you dig into the actual history, Steve significantly restructured Apple when he returned, killing licensing deals and products without a future, and refocusing the remaining product line before he set about creating a single new true innovation. And remember that Apple didn't really pick up steam until it capitalized on the iPod's traction years after Steve returned.

1997 Apple and 2016 Yahoo also exist in very different markets and very different landscapes, to the point that I'm not sure it's fair to say that Yahoo could even plausibly make an Apple-like turnaround happen without completely changing what it does. Apple's resurgence was as much about its great hardware as about its great software, and Yahoo doesn't really have either; it has services, which are a quite different beast these days.

[threeseed]

But killing off unsuccessful products and focusing on implementing successful ones properly is what good product management is all about. And it seems to be what Yahoo is still lacking.

And services are products too. Apple iCloud is a product just like Flickr, Yahoo Home Page, Yahoo Mail etc.

[marincounty]

I think we all agree Mr. jobs was a talented engineer, and knew innately that the average computer user needed simplicity, and someting slick. He succeeded.

I'm not sure what Yahoo even does these days. They do have money, especially if they cut more jobs, and bring in that money sitting in that Chinese company.

If I was in her shoes, I would put a lot of money into a wifi/cellular phone. Something like Rebublic wireless.

I noticed Google is trying to get into that market, but they only offer two phone choices, and are charging $30/month for essentially wifi voip, and $10 per gig for data.

I would love to see Yahoo get into this market. Get cell phone bills to under $10-$20 a month? It just seems like something they could do?

Someone is going to drastically reduce cell phone monthly bills? I would like to see Yahoo play a part in the future. A lot of people think they need a lot of cell phone towers, but I have a weird feeling, most of that is marketing?

In my world, I'm usually have access to wifi. Yes, there are times I need access to a cell phone signal, but it's not as much as I thought.

I really feel in a few years, we will look back on our $80/month cell phone bills, and say, "I can't believe I paid those blood suckers that much money each month."

Whatever happens, I hope Yahoo survives. They never screwed me over. I only wish them, and Marissa the best! I can't recall the spelling of her last name--no disrespect.

[newjersey]

> I would love to see Yahoo get into this market. Get cell phone bills to under $10-$20 a month? It just seems like something they could do?

Either you'd have to build a nationwide network (think at least tens of billions in capital expenditure upfront) or rent from existing providers (so they can essentially undercut you at any time or pull the rug from under you). Neither is easy.

I wish this was possible as well but the barriers for a newcomer are pretty bad. :(

[BogusIKnow]

No Yahoo is way beyond that. Sure Jobs is one way to turn a company around, sadly the supply of Jobs is limited. But there have been many successful turnarounds of - e.g. traditional - companies, which got profitable and growing again in the long run. Not every turnaround needs to end with the most valuable company on the planet. If you aim for a second Steve Jobs experience, this is lottery play and wishful thinking.

"Based on her experience and from what everyone says about her she should have been perfect."

Which either means: a.) She isn't that good as a product manager b.) Your theory is wrong. c.) Jobs turned Apple not around only on his vision but b/c he was able to kick everyone hard

[threeseed]

Well it's clear that she was hired to be a product driven CEO not just a turnaround artist focused on the financial/operational parts of the business. And from day one she made it clear she was going to get involved in the product aspects e.g. changing Yahoo logo, fast tracking certain mobile products etc.

But then everything's kind of stalled. It's all a bit strange.

[xyzzy4]

It doesn't seem like the logo change fixed the company.

[20andup]

That's the exact problem. Mayors is not Steve Jobs. I feel like she is asking for 3 more year for a turn around simply because Steve Jobs took that amount of time to do so. But turn arounds aren't measure in how long it takes. It takes time for sure but thats only a small part of the equation. She doesn't understand even if she copied everything Steve Job did, she will probably not succeed.