Yahoo's Mobile Leader LeavesYahoo's Mobile Leader Leaves

Yahoo's highly visible mobile executive, Marco Boerries, will leave the company for personal reasons.

Boerries was the executive VP of the company's Connected Life division, and he spearheaded the efforts to bring Yahoo services to mobile phones and televisions. His family lives in Germany, and Boerries said the stress of commuting back and forth was too much to endure.

"Most of you know about my personal situation, the 'living in 2 continents' and the importance of my family to me," Boerries wrote in an internal e-mail obtained by All Things D. "I cannot reconcile these personal needs, my future plans and ambitions and Yahoo anymore. And that's why it is time to say goodbye."

He was instrumental in securing large mobile search deals with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Virgin Mobile. The company also has mobile services that offer voice searching, as well as access to e-mail, social networking sites, and news.

Boerries often gave high-profile speeches and keynotes, and he recently introduced a new major mobile development platform at the last CTIA trade show. Yahoo's Blueprint platform enables content creators to write an application once that will run on multiple phones, including Java, Windows Mobile, and Symbian. The company used this platform to build the oneConnect app for the iPhone 3G, and it enables users to manage mobile messaging and social networking contacts.

His departure wasn't unexpected, though, as many industry watchers had predicted Boerries would step down once Carol Bartz was appointed CEO in January. In a blog post, Bartz revealed a management reorganization, which for the mobile division means it could face multiple cutbacks because it has been difficult to monetize so far.

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