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By Bill Wilson
Yahoo Mail is coming out of beta over the next couple of weeks, Yahoo
announced. The new service started beta testing last October. It will
be available to 284 million users in 43 markets and 26 languages. "This
is the largest redesign of Yahoo Mail in six years, and we rebuilt it
with a focus on performance to make it at least 2x faster than previous
versions," according to a Yahoo blog post.
"In addition, we upgraded our spam technology to ensure that you
aren't receiving unwanted messages. Did you know that Yahoo! Mail
already blocks more than 550 billion spam messages per month?"
Rather than build out a separate social networking service, Yahoo is
connecting pretty much to all of the popular engines today. The new
Yahoo Mail supports messaging for Facebook, Flickr, Gmail and Windows
Live, among other services.
"Yahoo!'s vision for online communications brings together all the
tools that people use to connect -- email, chat, SMS, and social
updates -- and makes it easier for them to share content and engage in
conversations with the people that matter most to them," Blake Irving,
Yahoo chief product officer, says in a statement. He claims that the new
Yahoo mail offers an "engaging and constantly connected experience
across desktop, mobile and tablet devices that keeps the conversation
going -- anytime, anywhere."
Yahoo keeps speaking about "anytime, anywhere" as they are offering a
revamped mobile experience. Some of that is focused on Nokia users.
"Nokia email and chat services are now "Powered by Yahoo," offering
Nokia users an easier, safer and more social email and chat
experience," according to the Yodel Anecdotal blog post. Nokia is
keeping the Ovi branding on top, but it will be Yahoo Mail underneath.
Among the new features to be offered by Yahoo:
- Send up to 100MB email attachments.
- Chat with Facebook friends from the mail client.
- View inline videos and slideshows from the inbox.
- Use "Updates" tab to share to Facebook, Twitter and Zynga.
- Prioritize close contacts for faster email, IM and SMS conversations.
- Customize Yahoo Mail with themes
- Respond to messages from Facebook, Gmail (and other providers) and Yahoo groups using the inbox's quick reply bar.
Yahoo Mail users should see an upgrade option from the inbox, which
right now points to the beta. Just click the "Upgrade Now" button.
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