Yahoo! after the bell 8-30-06: too much thinking?

Some time this past June, Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) had an internal hack day. Hack day is a 24 hour period where employees take ideas and transform them into prototypes. In about a month from now, on September 29, Yahoo! will have another hack day, but this time it would be an open hack day. Meaning, developers outside Yahoo! will be invited to participate. There are those who are very excited about the possibilities.

While hack days may be useful and innovative, I've been worrying lately Yahoo! has been doing too much thinking and not enough doing. The latest example came after the Google, eBay deal when Dina Freeman, a Yahoo! spokeswoman wrote: "[...] we are currently evaluating the advertising opportunity that pay-per-call presents. Once our tests are complete, we will use the data to determine whether it makes sense to offer a pay-per-call service to our advertisers."

While I appreciate the cautiousness, this doesn't bode well for Yahoo in the face of a major pay-per-call deal between two Internet giants/rivals. It's possible that with Project Panama delayed for more testing, some investors could become wary demanding to see more action.

Yahoo! shares gained 6 cents today, or 0.21% to close at $29.02.