As a Yahoo! services user, have you noticed the significantly new look of the Yahoo! homepage? There is a story behind this.

Early this month Yahoo! Inc. officially launched its new homepage to bring together the best of the Web with the best of Yahoo! in a single destination across both personal computers (PC) and mobile communication device screens.

With the new Yahoo! homepage, people can easily add apps - from Yahoo! or virtually any other site on the Web - and access them from their computer or mobile devices so that their favorite content, services and experiences are always at their fingertips. The new Yahoo! homepage became available in December 2009 in South East Asia at http://yahoo.com/trynew with a roll-out in Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore, and on mobile devices.

The launch represents the most significant change to the Yahoo! homepage since the company's inception. By enabling this level of personalization, Yahoo! allows people to get more done, faster, all in a single place. The launch is a major milestone in the Yahoo! Open Strategy, which seeks to mesh the Yahoo! experience with the best online content and services.

“Whether for the PC or a mobile device, Yahoo! is bringing greater simplicity and relevance to the way people experience the Web,” said Ken Mandel, vice president and managing director, Yahoo! Southeast Asia, in a press release furnished by InfoTech. “By focusing on what people have told us they want, our new homepage is designed to help our audience stay on top of what is going on in their world, and in the rest of the world.”

The new Yahoo! homepage brings together the best tools and content from across the Web, combined with leading content and services from Yahoo! properties, to give people one place to access the people and things that matter to them most. New features of the Yahoo! homepage include:

My Favorites - People can easily choose from a dashboard of more than 38 apps to add directly to their homepage, including best of breed content sites, popular social networking sites, and dozens of others. These apps give people the ability to preview, interact with, or navigate to their favorite sites from one easy check-in point.

App Maker - Using technology developed by Yahoo!, people can easily create their own app on the fly by adding virtually any URL of their choice.

Trend Setter - A new snapshot of trends, including the most popular searches and fun facts from around the Web.

PC to Mobile Sync (coming soon) - People will be able to continue their Yahoo! experience on the go with a more seamless PC to mobile integration. New apps added to the Yahoo! homepage on the PC can be added to the mobile homepage. News, For You - Hyper-local news and the ability to toggle the news module at the top of the page offer easier ways to access the news that matters most.

Social Updates - People can now share their current "status" with friends directly from the homepage, get visibility into what their friends are doing across the Web, and integrate with leading social networks.