Looking to reclaim some of the respect it had before Google became a household name, Yahoo! has quietly been making plans for the emerging mobile space. Today, those plans just became a little more wide open with news that the internet giant plans to let third party developers create widget applications for its mobile platform.

While Google has had better luck attracting developers to work on its Gphone, Yahoo is betting that its ability to reach billions of mobile users – the company has inked deals with carriers and handset manufacturers around the globe – could bring top talent to Yahoo.

But the widget news is just one piece in Yahoo's mobile attack. The company also announced a redesign for its mobile portal, and it is releasing an upgrade for Go, Yahoo's mobile web software.

"We intend to be the pioneers for the mobile internet in the new millennium," Cory Pforzheimer, a Yahoo spokesman, said.