Yahoo to push its latest Web mail out of beta
Yahoo said Tuesday that it will roll its latest Yahoo Mail version out to its global user base "in the coming weeks." The company is also making good on a Nokia partnership from last year.
The latest version of Yahoo Mail will be available to Nokia, Verizon, Rogers Communications and other partners. In addition to the Yahoo Mail launch, Nokia email and chat are powered by Yahoo. The move is part of a broader partnership with Nokia announced last year.
As previously noted, Yahoo is looking to Yahoo Mail as a way to aggregate conversations on the site as well as multiple services and devices. Yahoo's master plan revolves around integrating discussions that are private, broadcast and to "groups of the moment."
Among the key features of Yahoo Mail:
- Messages from Facebook, other Webmail and updates from Twitter, Facebook and Zynga are integrated in a tab. I've been trying out these updates and they are handy, but used infrequently.
- Contact prioritization for IM, SMS and email messages. Facebook friends are also included in contact. This feature is useful.
- 50 themes and customization choices. Does anyone do this?
- Apps for Yahoo Mail. Haven't tried these out, but there are a few handy items worth a spin.
- Improved mail search and faster loading. The search does seem to work better. The biggest thing Yahoo had to do was eliminate an annoying search bug.