Yahoo’s best strategy for success, but does it know?

Yahoo may be staring its path to success in the face, but may or may not recognize it. The Yahoo Zimbra paid email system is outstripping Google (including Gmail and Google Apps) and most other webmail systems, too.

What’s likely most significant about Zimbra’s success is that it’s due in no small part to a deal struck with Comcast. We’ve said for some time that Yahoo’s best chance for success lies in partnerships with the network operators, who are eager to exploit over-the-top (OTT) innovation but seemingly paralyzed in their own initiatives in that direction.

Yahoo could step in and create partnerships that would not only generate new opportunities for Yahoo, but pioneer the integration of OTT and operator features into common service sets. Listening, Ms. Bartz?