Yahoo bought startup Bignoggins Productions on Monday "as part of its quest for more bright ideas in mobile applications," according to the AP. Although the Bignoggins deal "didn’t dent Yahoo’s wallet, it represents a coup" for Bignoggins Founder Jerry Shen. He "quit his job as a software engineer shortly after starting Bignoggins in San Jose, Calif., three years ago and proceeded to develop a series of mobile apps for players in fantasy sports leagues." Bignoggins apps such as “Fantasy Monster” and “Draft Monster” were "popular enough to convince fantasy sports players to pay for the service." Shen is "joining Yahoo’s mobile engineering team" at the company’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQs. He is "the only Bignoggins employee joining Yahoo" (AP, 7/2). TECHCRUNCH.com's Greg Kumparak noted Bignoggins is a "one-man iPhone development shop which had previously built a handful of fairly popular Fantasy Sports mobile apps." Bignoggins until Monday "had at least two apps" for sale, Fantasy Monster ($5) and Draft Monster ($3). Both apps were "built as all-in-one tools, meant to let Fantasy Sports nuts manage their pretend football/baseball/basketball/hockey teams across Yahoo, ESPN, and NFL’s competing services." However, as part of the acquisition, all of Bignoggins’ apps were "immediately pulled from both the App Store and Google Play." Shen said that the tech he has "built so far will soon be baked into Yahoo’s official Fantasy Products" (TECHCRUNCH.com, 7/1).
