The Personalization Potential of Konfabulator

Yahoo acquires Konfabulator.

“Hoping to pave a new path to its popular Web site, Yahoo Inc. has acquired Konfabulator, a tiny software maker that provides a computer platform for monitoring the weather, stock prices and a wealth of other customized information without opening a Web browser.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed price, gives Yahoo access to a toolbox of mini-applications – known as widgets – that have built a cult following since Palo Alto, Calif.-based Konfabulator first introduced them for Apple Computer Inc.’s Macintosh in 2002.”

Good move by Yahoo.

Om and I were talking this weekend about the next set of trends. Om wrote Did Silicon Valley build its own 747? and I commented: To derive the next big thing, Silicon Valley would need to change its traditional “solution in search of a problem” mode of innovation, and switch to understanding the applications that people are interested in … in response.

Yahoo! Konfabulator should pay a lot of attention to what widgets people want, because mosquito conditions in a certain area, I am afraid, is not exactly a killer app. However, finding the right clothes from the private desktop of big, fat women may well be one!