Yahoo! repositions itself as a tech company rather than an online media giant, discontinues BlackBerry app

Yahoo! has officially repositioned itself as a tech company rather than a media giant, while announcing it is cancelling a number of its services as part of a product clear out.

Up until recently, the company described itself as a “digital media company” in its official 10K documents, which are filed with the US Securities and Exchanges commission.

“Yahoo! Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries (‘Yahoo!,’ the ‘Company,’ ‘we,’ or ‘us’), attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most trafficked Internet destinations and a world class online media company,” a Yahoo! 10K states.

However, in its most recent 10K filing, the company has switched from describing itself as being a “world class online media company” to being a “global technology company”.

“Yahoo! Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries (‘Yahoo!,’ the ‘Company,’ ‘we,’ or ‘us’), is a global technology company focused on making the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining,” its most recent 10K filing states.

The repositioning comes as the company plans to discontinue a number of its services, including its BlackBerry app and message boards.

TechCrunch reports the services will be discontinued on April 1, along with its Avatars, App Search and Sports IQ services, with the company also ending support for the Yahoo! Updates API on April 16.

The company’s executive vice president of platforms, Jay Rossiter, says the closures will help it to focus on its core products.

“By continuing to home in on our core products and experiences, we’ll be able to make our existing products the very best they can be,” Rossiter states.

“The Yahoo! app for BlackBerry will no longer be available for download. For those of you who have already downloaded the app, you can continue to use it but it will no longer be actively supported.

“The Yahoo! Message Boards website will shut down. Our message boards on individual properties (like Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports) will remain active. We also encourage you to ask and answer questions on Yahoo! Answers, and discuss issues in the comments section on Yahoo! News.”