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Yahoo on Friday announced it is killing a slew of services at the end of this month. The company is shutting down Upcoming, Yahoo Deals, Yahoo SMS Alerts, Yahoo Kids, Yahoo Mail and Messenger feature phone (J2ME) apps, and older versions of Yahoo Mail beginning the week of June 3.

Today’s news of axing these six follows the announcement to retire seven products at the start of this month, a move which was first announced back in March. Those included the company’s Avatars, its BlackBerry app, Clues, app search, Sports IQ, Message Boards, and its Updates API.

At the time, Yahoo explained the axing as such:

Ultimately, we’re making these changes in an effort to sharpen our focus. By continuing to hone in on our core products and experiences, we’ll be able to make our existing products the very best they can be.

Yahoo didn’t elaborate on this vision again today, but the announcement is titled “Sharpening our focus – to bring you new Yahoo! Products” suggesting that this move falls under the same umbrella as the first. The company also did say that it wants “to bring you experiences that inspire and entertain you every day.”

Here’s the breakdown:

• Upcoming: On April 30, it will be shut down along with support for the Upcoming API. If you have uploaded events to the site, you can download your information here.


• Yahoo Deals: On April 30, it will be shut down. If you have coupons, you can find instructions on how to save them here.


• Yahoo SMS Alerts: On April 30, it will be shut down. Yahoo is instead pushing users to stay up-to-date via its mobile apps including Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and horoscope alerts on Yahoo.com. You can still go to alerts.yahoo.com and select to receive your alerts via email or Yahoo! Messenger.


• Yahoo Kids: On April 30, it will be shut down. Yahoo recommends its users who are under 13 can instead register for a Yahoo ID through the company’s Family Accounts program, use Yahoo Mail, Messenger, and Movies.


• Yahoo Mail and Messenger feature phone (J2ME) apps: On April 30, they will be shut down. Yahoo will continue to support Yahoo Mail and Messenger via mobile web for feature phone users. Everyone else is told to use Yahoo Mail apps for Android, iOS, and Windows 8 or Yahoo Messenger apps for Android and iOS.


• Older versions of Yahoo Mail (including Yahoo Mail Classic): Beginning the week of June 3, they will be shut down. Users will be switched to the new Yahoo Mail. Users on dial-up or an older browser will be moved to a basic (HTML only) version of the new Yahoo Mail.

Upcoming founder Andy Baio has published a lengthy historical post following the announcement of the upcoming closure. Here’s how it starts:

So, Yahoo’s finally decided to close Upcoming.org, the events community I started nearly ten years ago. And, in Yahoo’s typical fuck-off-and-die style, they’re doing it with 11 days notice, no on-site announcement, and no way to back up past events.

I knew its closure was inevitable after the infamous sunset slide, but never knew when it would happen. Like a newspaper prepping for a sick celebrity, this obituary’s been sitting in my drafts folder for months, waiting for its sad publication day.

You can read the whole piece here.

See also – Marissa Mayer: Yahoo surpassed 300 million active mobile users in the first quarter and Yahoo’s Q1 2013 revenue of $1.14 billion doesn’t excite, but its $0.35 in EPS beats expectations

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