Today, Yahoo! introduced an update to its popular mail service, with its CEO Marissa Mayer taking the reigns of the Yahoo! Blog to discuss it. Brand new versions of Yahoo! Mail, one of its flagship products, is now available on all devices, and will be rolling out on the web soon.
Coming from Google, Mayer knows the importance of having a solid Email product, a service that is probably the original social network and something that most people in the world use daily. This appears to be the first significant redesign for Yahoo Mail since 2011, which was introduced as a Beta in 2010.
Basically, you wake up and check email before anything else these days. You also check it before you go to bed. Some of us check it during the night.
Here’s what Mayer had to say about the redesign:
Email is the ultimate daily habit. It’s often the first thing we check in the morning and the last thing before going to bed. Why? Because it’s one of the simplest and most basic forms of communication. And since it’s such an important part of our daily lives, we’re making a few improvements to Yahoo! Mail.
You’ve told us loud and clear that you want fewer distractions when it comes to email. You want to quickly login, communicate, and get on with your day. And we’ve listened. Starting today, the new Yahoo! Mail is fast, easy and available anywhere you go. These improvements will be available on all major platforms: Web, Windows 8, iPhone/iPod touch and Android.
We’ve redesigned the new version of Yahoo! Mail with speed in mind — getting through your emails is faster than ever before. We’ve also made your inbox more intuitive and easier to navigate, allowing you to focus on what matters most: your messages. And, because mobile is everything these days, Yahoo! Mail now has a consistent look and feel across devices.
As Yahoo! starts fresh, coming off as very partner-friendly, one must wonder what’s next for the company. It’s obvious that Mayer has come in and focused on the products that people use the most. Perhaps we’ll see an update to its homepage soon, its photo service, or even the dropping of the !. I kid. Kind of.
Listening to your users, as Mayer tells us that she does, is the right way to get out of the gates with her new company. You really can never go wrong by taking a step back, looking at what’s going on in the marketplace, and then fixing your own products accordingly. Yahoo! had to keep up in the email race. It’s not one that’s over by any stretch, no matter how popular Gmail is. We all know people who prefer Yahoo! Mail, and regardless of their demographic, Mayer and company would like to keep them.
Don’t hold out for this homepage redesign, though.
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Read our interview with Adam Cahan, SVP, Emerging Products & Tech at Yahoo!
[Photo credit: Flickr]
Marissa Mayer is CEO of Yahoo. Previously as a VP at Google, Marissa Mayer led the product management and engineering efforts of Google’s local, mobile, and contextual discovery products including Google Maps, Google Maps for Mobile, Local Search, Google Earth, Street View, Latitude and more. At 36 years old, she was also the youngest member of Google’s executive operating committee. During her 12 years at Google, Marissa led product management and design efforts for Google web search, images, news,...
Yahoo was founded in 1994 by Stanford Ph.D. students David Filo and Jerry Yang. It has since evolved into a major internet brand with search, content verticals, and other web services. Yahoo! Inc. (Yahoo!), incorporated in 1995, is a global Internet brand. To users, the Company provides owned and operated online properties and services (Yahoo! Properties, Offerings, or Owned and Operated sites). Yahoo! also extends its marketing platform and access to Internet users beyond Yahoo! Properties through its distribution network...
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