• San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, September 11, 2008 11:02 AM

Yahoo on Wednesday launched two new mobile features: a new social communications service for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, and an expanded development platform for developers. The first feature, through Yahoo oneConnect, allows users to marry their cell phone contacts lists to friend and follower lists on social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Twitter. The application, now available in the Apple App Store, integrates these lists and their functionality, enabling users to communicate via instant messaging, email, SMS or phone.

"We want to create and enable a mobile ecosystem for billions of users," said Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo's Connected Life division. "We're turning everyone that uses voice today into a mobile data user."

Yahoo's second big mobile announcement was the expansion of its development platform to help software creators more easily build applications for mobile phones. The development platform uses a language called Blueprint and allows developers to create applications that run on multiple mobile operating systems and devices. Apps built using Blueprint can run on Yahoo's Go mobile platform or can be built directly on certain mobile phones.

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