Looks like Marissa Mayer’s startup shopping spree hasn’t ended yet. The Yahoo CEO announced today at the company’s CES press conference that it has acquired Aviate, the contextually-aware launcher replacement for Android devices.
Aviate, which raised a $1.8 million round of funding last year from venture capital firms, has generated a lot of buzz for evoking Google Now in the way it adjusts home screens depending on location and time of day. While at a workplace, for example, Aviate provides shortcuts to apps for business, but at a local attraction, the widgets and icons may change to a check-in service like Foursquare. Such “activities” are customizable, but limited by the types of apps installed; no OpenTable, for instance, means restaurant reservations won’t be displayed. To remedy this and monetize, Aviate intended to offer app recommendations in the future, although it’s unclear if Yahoo has other plans.
Concerning how Yahoo intends to leverage Aviate’s technology, the company didn’t elaborate. However, Yahoo is clearly in a celebratory mood, because it’s offering additional beta spots to 25,000 new users. (Use the code “YAHOO” when signing up.)
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can i have an invite code please?tasosptk1@gmail.com
These codes are still live!
I’m worried about its future now too. Let’s see what Yahoo can do….
“Kill the young to feed the old” ~ too bad
Aviate is a great launcher, especially if you are rooted and combine it with some tweaks from xposed modules and other apps. I hope Yahoo doesn’t mess up the things that make Aviate good. But with Yahoo behind them, they could become great…
I don’t understand why people make this seem like this is a bad move since android and launchers as a whole are trying to become more intelligent from grabbing your usage. None of the information pulled can harm you…
I think the Cover lockscreen might be next, because they would pair great with Aviate and really allow for an individual experience for each user based of their needs.
#MY2CENTS
I’m out.
I’ve been using Aviate for about 3 months now ~ it’s great – my daily driver. But now I am afraid it will become an Ad based launcher, with Yahoo! email and news logos all over it. Damn.
Yahoo still looking for ways to farm consumer data decides to purchase the invasive aviate. $$chaching
Aviate is pretty cool… starting using it yesterday. As long as it doesn’t destroy the battery I think I will stick with it for a while.
I used Aviate for over a week to give it a fair shake and get through transition pains, but ultimately it got in my way more than making things easier. I think if they got the automatic app sorting and automatic selection of home screen to work really well (which seems like a crazy hard challenge) then it would be worth another look. But as it is, those features don’t work very well so I ended up hunting for things a lot of the time. Oh, also they have to figure out how to make widgets work. Their current solution is very painful.
You managed to last longer than I did. I think I kept it on for 3-4 days max. There’s nothingincoherently “wrong” or “bad” about it, it just pales in comparison to other launchers with more fledged out customibility. Nova was back ok fast. Well no, then I started using the LG launched which was still (in my opinion) a better launcher than Aviate.
It was just always easier and faster to open the app drawer and launch whatever I needed.
Pretty bad news. I don’t use yahoo and probably never will. Home screen replacement battles will be the big 2014 story. Aviate was really nice and minimal. Loved it. Still do. Once yahoo gets involved I’m out.
Aviate sucked.. Installed it checked it out for like 2 days and uninstalled it
I actually really like aviate as a replacement. It stayed on longer than most
I used it for a few days, but it murdered my battery. Nice concept, though.
This was a decision solely based on money. Expect Aviate to become more Yahoo-like . I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s called Yahoo Launcher a couple of months from now.
Hey if they make it as simple and pretty as yahoo weather I’ll be very happy. I love aviate but it comes off as quite utilitarian in its looks and I rarely use the spaces because they’re not too consistent
One question…Why???
That is a bad move for Aviate. now uninstalling it
Installed to offset the uninstall. 😛
So far I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it… the auto-categorization is neat, but I had it already done that manually in nova. Aviate might not add enough to justify its performance/battery footprint. Will give it a few days, I guess.
i’d rather this information on the lock screen like Cover. i can handle my own homescreen