Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) released today its new version of Yahoo! Mail. Up until now, the beta version was available only to a limited number of users, but starting today, the beta version will be available to U.S. users as well as 18 other markets. It remains a free service.
Yahoo! Mail will have a new interface that according to the press release works "with the speed and responsiveness of a desktop application." The new features of Yahoo! Mail include calendar integration, drag and drop e-mail organization, message preview and an integrated RSS reader.
Other features: map viewing of events, spam and virus protection, e-mail search of headers, bodies and attachments, tabbed e-mail messages viewing and navigation, keyboard shortcuts and right-click menus, and address autocomplete. The two features that really sound great to me and indeed they are according to other bloggers I've read, is the multiple e-mail messages tabbed viewing and the drag and drop option. While I use bloglines as my RSS reader at the moment, I could consider switching it to my Yahoo! Mail if it became more convenient.
Yahoo! Mail is the No. 1 Web mail service with Google Gmail far behind it. However, for Yahoo! Mail to keep its no. 1 position, it would still have to improve when compared to Gmail. One thing, as TechCrunch so well put, is a feature that I'm really missing in Yahoo! Mail -- the tabbed conversations. I'm fine with the lack of tagging, but it seems this feature could be important. Storage and attachment limits are also important. Finally, the amount of ads seems too much.
In other news, Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. also announced today it signed a license agreement with Yahoo Inc. Under the agreement, Yahoo! could deliver TV Guide branded interactive program guides to Yahoo's users. No other details were disclosed.
Yahoo! shares declined 14 cents today, or 0.48% to close at $29.03.
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