Yahoo adds “Ymail” and “Rocketmail” to its Mail Service

Yahoo has introduced two new domains for its already popular free email service, allowing users to select new, simpler e-mail addresses ending in “ymail.com” and “rocketmail.com”. This is being seen as an effort to attract Web surfers unhappy with their current addresses.

The introduction of "ymail.com" and "rocketmail.com" as Yahoo email address options comes as the Sunnyvale, California based Internet firm strains to convince its investors that 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. Microsoft Corp., which unsuccessfully tried to buy Yahoo for $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.

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 id under the Yahoo domain. The new domains will allow users who have outgrown or never really liked their yahoo.com email addresses to have chances at better choices.

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.

John Kremer, Vice President of Yahoo Mail said, "People want an e-mail address that reflects who they are, whether they are signing up for an e-mail address for the first time, or simply updating their e-mail pseudonym to reflect the stage they are at in life."

Kremer added, "This adds millions and millions of new Yahoo accounts out there for users. Effectively, we are tripling the size of the Yahoo name space."

Yahoo is hoping the additional options created with “ymail” and “rocketmail” will help boost its e-mail growth. An e-mail is considered an important product because it fosters user loyalty and spurs frequent visits that create advertising opportunities.

This is the first time that Yahoo has offered e-mail accounts under umbrellas other than its own company name since it became a correspondence medium in 1997.

Yahoo started offering free e-mail services after its $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.

According to Kremer Yahoo may establish even more new domains based on the names of some of its other online properties if there is a "land rush" that results in the new domains being stripped of ID choices.