Yahoo revamps email service

Yahoo gave a face-lift its email service in a bid to catch up with Gmail
 In a bid to expand its email service and also to contend with its competitor Gmail, Yahoo made changes to email services. The company based in Sunnyvale California stated that the changes are aimed to make its email services faster and easier to use on the web. The company unveiled the new changes on Tuesday. These changes have made in order to cater to the growing audience checking their mail on smart phones and tablet computers. Yahoo also introduced mobile applications for iPhone, iPad and Windows 8 powered devices. The company also updated its email app designed for Google.inc Android Operating System.

President and CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer stated that the changes to the email service have been made in order to give people more reasons for users to visit the company’s online services and also stick to them.  She hopes to sell more advertising and accelerate Yahoo's revenue growth after years of financial malaise. The stagnation has kept the company's stock price below $20 for more than four years. Yahoo shares were hovering near $30 before the company wasted an opportunity to sell itself to Microsoft for $33 per share in May 2008.

Yahoo stock also rose to 9 cents on Tuesday to close at $19.52. The stock has surged 25 percent since Yahoo hired Mayer from Google nearly five months ago. During her 13 year stint at Google she was instrumental in building the company’s Gmail service. Through October, Gmail had more than 295 million active users to eclipse Microsoft's Hotmail at nearly 284 million users and Yahoo email at 282 million, according to the most recent data from the research firm com Score. At the same time last year, Hotmail led the pack with 335 million users, followed by Yahoo at 303 million and Gmail at more than 245 million. With more and more users frequenting Gmail services Microsoft recently made changes to Windows mail and at the same time also rebranded its Outlook Service. Google too is not taking its lead in email services for granted and is also in the process of making changes to its service.

Although none of the major email providers charge to set up an account on the Web, the services are valuable because they encourage repeat visits and require people to log in. Internet companies covet activities occurring under a logged-in identity because they can more easily track people's preferences and make advertisements that are more likely to appeal to users' tastes.