Yahoo acquires Indonesian mobile location-based-services Web company Koprol

Yahoo Inc. said today that it has acquired Koprol, an Indonesian mobile location-based-services web company for an undisclosed sum.

Headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, Koprol extends Yahoo's social, mobile and local offerings and focuses on the intersection of location, community expertise and mobile experiences that have become important trends around the globe.

Koprol allows people to connect and share photos, reviews and additional information about locations in real-time using just their mobile phone browser, making the service accessible to a larger percentage of mobile users.

Once on Koprol, people can "check-in" to their current location and see where others are and what they are doing. The service helps people find local businesses, such as popular shops or restaurants, based on user ratings including a "thumbs-up" feature to elevate favourite places to the top of the ranking.

"Users are increasingly relying on mobile devices to communicate and access the Internet and they are looking for seamless integration between those devices and PCs. This is especially true in many emerging markets where we are introducing the Yahoo! brand to many new-to-Net users," said Rose Tsou, senior vice president, Asia Region at Yahoo!

"We are excited to join Yahoo! and look forward to the opportunities being part of a global Internet leader presents," said Koprol co-founder Fajar Budiprasetyo.

Yahoo said that it will continue to invest in evolving Koprol's service and expects to announce new mobile applications for both local and global mobile platforms in the future.

The acquisition comes a week after Yahoo agreed to acquire Denver, Colorado-based Associated Content Inc, an online publisher and distributor of original content. (See: Yahoo to acquire online publisher Associated Content)