Yahoo launches Axis web browser, receives acclaim from pundits

Sunnyvale - Digital media company Yahoo has launched its own web browser, Axis. The company describes it as an innovative tool to surf the Internet and make it easier and faster. Will this surprise move help revamp the struggling but once dominant Internet giant?

Do you want more than just endless pages of links for the searches you enter and the questions you ask? Yahoo announced Thursday that its newest web browser Axis is available to download and will change the way you search the Internet. Yahoo’s Axis, which has garnered critical acclaim from various technology experts, is different in its web search capabilities. When you search or ask questions you get virtual previews that you view and interact with and not endless pages of text – there are no search result pages and just a horizontal display of thumbnails or text boxes with results inside. Axis integrates your desktop’s web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari, and connects your online searches to all of your devices. It also remembers the last page you were on on both your computer and other browsing outlets. Users can instantly share their experiences through various social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook. The browser is available to download on all Apple iOS devices. “Our search strategy is predicated on two core beliefs—one, that people want answers, not links and two, that consumer-facing search is ripe for innovative disruption," said Shashi Seth, senior vice president of Connections Yahoo! Inc., in a press release. "With Axis, we have re-defined and re-architected the search and browse experience from the ground up." Yahoo’s launch of Axis comes as the company undergoes a restructuring process that is meant to redefine the company. The search engine giant also had a fiasco earlier this month when its newly hired CEO, Scott Thompson, stepped down following controversy over his education credentials. Will Axis become a success and eventually become one of the top web browsers on the market today? A recent statistics report found that Google Chrome surpassed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the world’s most-used web browser.