Yahoo has agreed to buy Zimbra, a startup that offers Web-based corporate e-mail (and a Next Net 25 company from 2006). The price is a hefty $350 million—one of the largest for a Web 2.0 startup to date. Yahoo is right to build up its portfolio of Web-based apps, but Zimbra is an enterprise app. Yahoo (YHOO) is a consumer company. So this could end up being a stretch for them (or its entry into a whole new market).
Update: A senior Yahoo executive just told me that the acquisition was more for Zimbra's technology than an attempt to create a wedge into the nascent enterprise Webtop market. That makes more sense. So expect to see some of Zimbra's gee-whiz Webtop features appear in Yahoo's consumer e-mail, contact, and calendering apps down the road.
Zimbra is not only an enterprise app, they have hosting partners already offering it to small business... and even one offering personal hosting on Zimbra already: http://www.01.com/
I think that's one of the advantages Yahoo! sees in Zimbra, it's not only going to give them an edge vs. Google (apps), but also vs. Exchange and Notes.
Posted by: Sincere | September 17, 2007 at 04:19 PM
it's not going to make any difference. yahoo has lost.
Posted by: Coleman Foley | September 17, 2007 at 04:27 PM
Yeah, right, that's what people were saying about Apple at the turn of the century, too, just a few short years ago.
Posted by: MacReminder | September 22, 2007 at 04:17 PM