Yahoo on Thursday is tripling the size of its globally-popular free online email service by adding two new domains as options to “@yahoo.com” addresses.
The introduction of “@ymail.com” and “@rocketmail.com” as Yahoo email address options comes as the pioneering Internet firm strives to convince investors it is on a path to reclaim faded glory and eroded revenues.
Yahoo Mail is the most popular web-based email in the world. Its profitable ad-supported service has approximately 266 million users, according to industry statistics.
“We recognize that people want an email address that reflects who they are,” said Yahoo Mail vice president John Kremer.
Free email addresses are typically assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning newcomers choosing yahoo.com IDs are unlikely to get their names or other prime choices when signing up. A Harris Interactive study commissioned by Yahoo concluded that 70 percent of adults using the Internet would select an email address that includes all or part of their names.
Yahoo says the rocketmail and ymail choices are meant to give another chance to email users saddled with addresses such as “CutiePie4ever80” or “Mary2455.”
{{/usCountry}}Yahoo says the rocketmail and ymail choices are meant to give another chance to email users saddled with addresses such as “CutiePie4ever80” or “Mary2455.”
{{/usCountry}}“If you have an email address that is your name at ymail, that becomes part of your identity,” said Kremer
Yahoo expects users to readily recognise “ymail” because it is used for a version of the email customized for mobile devices. Rocketmail has a “hip retro feel” because it is a resurrected email address that belonged to a company Yahoo bought in 1997, according to Kremer.
If there is a “land rush” that results in the new domains being stripped of ID choices, Yahoo may establish new domains based on the names of some of its other online properties.