Yahoo Inc is offering free e-mail accounts under two new designations in an effort to attract Web surfers unhappy with their current addresses.
The California-based company expected to begin registering new addresses under the domains of “ymail” and “rocketmail” yesterday.
It will be the first time that Yahoo has offered e-mail accounts under umbrellas other than its own company name since it became a correspondence conduit in 1997.
Yahoo began offering free e-mail shortly after its US$80 million acquisition of Four11 Corp, which included the rocketmail domain.
Rocketmail users at the time of the acquisition were allowed to keep their existing accounts, but Yahoo hadn’t accepted any new addresses under that name until now.
The diversification into new e-mail designations is being driven by the difficulty that people are having as they try to find an appealing e-mail handle under the Yahoo domain.
Most people prefer an e-mail address that’s easy to remember — like the first letter of their first name in front of their last name — or reflective of a personal interest, like a hobby or favorite sports team.
But the popularity of Yahoo e-mail has narrowed the range of choices, forcing users to perform too many mental gymnastics to come up with an e-mail handle that hasn’t been taken.
“We realized we needed to expand the universe of Yahoo mail,” said John Kremer, a vice president in charge of Yahoo’s e-mail.
Yahoo is hoping the additional options created with the ymail and rocketmail will help boost its e-mail growth. Although it’s given away, e-mail is considered an important product because it fosters user loyalty and spurs frequent visits that create advertising opportunities.
With 266 million worldwide users in April, Yahoo is the e-mail market leader, according to the latest data from research firm comScore Inc.
Microsoft Corp, which unsuccessfully tried to buy Yahoo for US$47.5 billion, is a close second at 264 million users.
But e-mail accounts at both Yahoo and Microsoft have been growing at a slower pace than Google Inc’s Gmail, which has added more than 30 million users in the past year. About 101 people used the Internet search leader’s Gmail in April, comScore said.
E-mail under the ymail and rocketmail designations will offer all the same features as the Yahoo domain, including unlimited storage.
When it entered the e-mail market, Yahoo provided just 3 megabytes of free storage per account. But Google changed the landscape in 2004 when it introduced Gmail with 1 gigabyte of free storage.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source