Yahoomail gets updated!

Five months after announcing its plan to offer unlimited storage for its Web-based free e-mail service, the Webmail giant Yahoo! Inc. is now upgrading its free e-mail service with new enhancements and taking the “beta” label off the product.

With the competitive pressure rising significantly in recent years among Webmail providers, due in large part to Google's introduction of Gmail in 2004, Yahoo's radical revamping of Yahoo Mail is targeted at protecting and extending its traditionally solid standing in this market.

Starting Monday, the improved Yahoo! Mail will incorporate quality enhancements that will make it easier to send email, instant messages or text messages from a single Web site. A button provided at the top of the page gives users the option to choose between sending an e-mail, chatting over IM or sending a text, or SMS, message, for free.

Although the new Yahoo Mail will now become the service's primary version, users will be able to continue using the "classic" version. "We'll continue to offer both products for the foreseeable future and we'll let our users decide what's the right Yahoo Mail experience for them," said John Kremer, Yahoo Mail's vice president.