Webmail service names

By Mark Brownlow, April, 2007 (updated May, 2007) |

I always wanted to launch a new email address service called "AOYahoo Hotgmail Live!" If you're confused by the different names for the top webmail services floating around, here's a quick review.

Globally, the four main webmail services are those offered by Yahoo, MSN/Microsoft, Google and AOL (see here for market share info.)

Yahoo!

Yahoo's basic webmail service is Yahoo! Mail. But users are being invited to switch over to Yahoo! Mail Beta. This is a completely revamped service which works much like desktop email software, with preview panes, drag and drop etc. Both versions are free.

Additionally, users can upgrade their Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Mail Beta account to Yahoo! Mail Plus for a small annual fee. This gives them additional anti-spam tools, removes the tagline from outgoing emails, allows mail forwarding and has various other useful features.

MSN/Microsoft

MSN is Microsoft's online service and long-time home of their free MSN Hotmail webmail product, invariably known as Hotmail. MSN also have a for-fee upgrade called MSN Hotmail Plus, with additional storage, less ads and other features.

As of May, 2007, Microsoft released the official successor to Hotmail. Windows Live Hotmail also works more like a desktop email program, with preview panes etc.

Previously, the new service carried the name Windows Live Mail, as it was a completely new product. Given its position as the heir to Hotmail's mantle and the strength of the Hotmail brand, MSN decided to keep everyone happy by merging the two names.

Google

Google's free webmail service is Gmail. There is no enhanced "Plus" version. In some countries, Google has encountered problems with trademark issues surrounding the name. In such cases, Gmail is known as Google Mail (for example in the UK and Germany.)

AOL

AOL offers free webmail as AOL Mail or AIM Mail. They, too, are working on a new version of their webmail product, under the project name Cayman and also labelled AIM Mail beta.

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