Cord Blomquist

Yahoo Mail is Real Competition for GMail

As the US and EU regulators bear down on Google we’re already seeing changes in the marketplace where the Googlers currently have the lead. Yahoo! is catching up to Google with several innovations in its email client. Unlimited Storage, a built in RSS reader (not separate and clunky with a just-added search function), push email for the iPhone, better contacts that syncs with the iPhone, built in SMS, and drag and drop functionality are all unique to Yahoo! mail, at least for the moment. There’s no doubt that GMail will catch-up, but that’s exactly what competition is meant to do, force competitors to improve or perish. Read more about it at LifeHacker.

Hat tip to my colleague Wayne Crews for sending me the link.

September 19, 2007 | Comments |

Viewing 3 Comments

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    I know it's a comparison between Gmail and Yahoo mail but Windows Live Hotmail has drag and drop too. No idea who was first with it though.
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    The storage thing should make Google red in the face with embarrassment, and that's the one thing that they've definitely dropped the ball on.

    But I don't know how you can call Google Reader "clunky" or possibly compare it to the spartan one built into Yahoo mail. The search feature is underwhelming, but it's still better than anything Yahoo offers.

    Many of the points for Yahoo are pretty meaningless - Drag and drop is also little more than a lame attempt to emulate desktop applications when it's unwarranted - keyboard navigation is vastly superior and something Google does far better - I have no need to touch the mouse when I'm in Gmail. As for support of the iPhone... it's one mobile device locked into one carrier, big whoop. I guess if I don't mind utilizing my email only in the way that Yahoo, Apple, and AT&T; can agree that I should, that's a good feature. Otherwise I'll pass.

    And as a final note - Google offers free forwarding and POP downloading. Yahoo makes you pay for that feature. So Google wins, hands down, by not holding my data hostage.

    I also have a big caveat with your case... if you look at the numbers, Yahoo Mail has 200 million users compared to Google's 50 million, the last I saw. Yahoo's been playing catch up in terms of features ever since Gmail lost, but it's Google who's always been playing catch up in terms of adoption.
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    Yahoo mail is no competition to Gmail. Gmail is vastly superior. Read here why: http://desinotes.com/why-gmail-is-still-better-...

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