Yahoo creates a new mobile niche with a combined video and texting app

A new and innovative product has emerged from Yahoo’s development lab, and it is geared towards creating an entirely new niche in mobile offerings, something that mobile users have never seen before.

Livetext, as it’s called, is Yahoo’s new social media app that works to facilitate one-to-one text chat between users, with live video at the same time. There are already other comparable applications, such as Snapchat, Viber, WhatsApp and others, but they are designed only for instant messaging; no live broadcast.

However, what those apps have that Livetext doesn’t have is the availability of voice and group chat features. In addition, users will not be able to record their conversations on Livetext, as Yahoo envisions that the application will focus on momentary interactions.

Livetext seeks to satisfy the demands of users that none of the existing mobile applications have met yet, which is to communicate to someone (their friend, family, lover, coworker, etc.) without having to include audio but showing their current environment. It’s a different approach to the mobile experience. The creation of this app is based on Yahoo’s observation that some people feel uncomfortable using audio in circumstances that require discretion, such as office meetings, church activities, etc.

Yahoo believes that as people take advantage of a variety of communication applications to carry out their daily tasks, the need for an optimized tool that almost combines the functions offered in different services becomes more and more crucial.

And Yahoo means crucial. Text chat and live video are the main means of communication, so these are the only features to be found in Livetext, without the rest of the functionality that only adds to the hodgepodge of unnecessary features. In other words, Yahoo believes that feature clutter will only destroy the design aspect of a mobile app.

The developers of Livetext are the same people who created MessageMe, a startup acquired by Yahoo in October 2014. However, in its early days, MessageMe created a service that was packed with unnecessary features. From there, the developers learned a lesson or two about simplifying an application, which they now applied to Livetext.

It’s a huge leap from what Yahoo has been focusing on lately: content, video services, no regard for social services. There are the News Digest applications designed to provide news to users. He has Tumblr, an acquired company, but the social platform didn’t get much of a boost from Yahoo.

With Livetext, Yahoo hopes to serve customers who come to the company for communication resources.