Yahoo! Mail Turns 10!
That’s right. Today is a very big day for Yahoo! Mail. As reported over on Yodel, it’s Yahoo! Mail’s birthday … and we are now at DOUBLE FIGURES! Below is the post that John Kremer, VP of Yahoo! Mail, published earlier this morning on the corporate blog. I found the milestones section to be especially interesting, but be sure to read to the end and take a few minutes to complete a brief survey (should you be so inclined) 
.
Ryan K
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail
—————————
Happy 10th Birthday, Yahoo! Mail
Today marks a special milestone for Yahoo!. Ten years ago today, Yahoo! Mail was born. It’s hard to imagine that just a decade ago, the idea of free email accessible from anywhere was a novelty.
Think of how far we’ve come since then. Web mail now is one of the most popular ways to stay in touch. It’s brought families closer together, let travelers send regards from the road, and made the concept of change-of-address notices virtually obsolete.
Ten years ago, Yahoo! Mail launched with just 3 megabytes of storage and the only images you were likely to receive were ASCII Art. Today, JPEGs are by far the most popular attachment type in Yahoo! Mail. Ten years ago mobile phones were bulky, expensive luxuries that were basically used for one thing: to make important phone calls. These days, everyone from students to busy parents and grandparents use their cell phones to check email on the go. And ten years ago, many people didn’t “get” Web mail or why they would need an address that wasn’t tethered to their ISP. Now many use it as their primary personal mail address.
Since we’re feeling nostalgic, we’ve put together some email milestones from the last decade:
- October 1997: Yahoo! Mail launches following our acquisition of Four 11, creators of RocketMail.
- December 1998: The movie You’ve Got Mail debuts.
- March 1999: CNN’s Ten Commandments of Email cites that Americans sent 2.1 billion emails daily (vs. 196 billion per day this year).
- December 1999: Yahoo! Mail launches Spamguard to detect spam and banish it to a separate folder.
- January 2000: Web mail survives Y2K.
- November 2001: Pope John Paul II is the first pontiff to send an email apology.
- March 2002: It’s reported internationally that email outpaces snail mail as the preferred method for residential communication.
- December 2003: Congress passes the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 to regulate the sending of commercial email.
- July 2004: Yahoo! acquires Oddpost, bringing AJAX to Yahoo! and inspiring Yahoo! Mail’s most significant upgrade ever.
- June 2005: Broadway’s “Spamalot” wins Tony Award for Best Musical.
- March 2006: IDG study shows that Americans sent 11.8 billion photos via email in 2005, compared with 2.6 billion in 2000. By 2009, this number is projected to 25.7 billion images.
- March 2007: Yahoo! Mail announces free, unlimited e-mail storage for all users.
- August 2007: According to Comscore , the worldwide Web mail market counts approximately 543 million people, with Yahoo! Mail alone representing 255 million.
It’s funny to reflect that when Rocketmail first started, many users chose to list their email addresses in a public directory because they wanted everyone to know how to contact them. Fast-forward to a world where we invest a huge amount of time and diligence protecting our users from spam (now estimated to represent more than 70% of all email) and phishing attacks.
So what about you? We put together a brief survey to find out how your email habits have evolved over the past 10 years. Please share your thoughts with us (or leave them as comments), and we’ll be sure to report back on our findings later this month.
Until then, happy emailing!
John Kremer
Vice President, Yahoo! Mail
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- 218 Comments
October 8th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
wwwowwowowowowowowowowowowowowowoooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwoowowowowowow
October 8th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I think I’ve been using your email for all ten years. Congratulations!!!
October 8th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Happy Birthday Yahoo Mail! Feliz Cumpleaños! Keep with the great work and I hope you can last many more years!
October 8th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Thanks for the Memories and the 4 emails I have had with you.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
thank’s for being there for us,congratulations. keep up the good work. chuck
October 8th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Happy Birthday Yahoo Mail! The Yahoo mail has been giving us, users, a wonderfull service since its birth 10 years ago. I have seen all its developments through these past 10 years. Please keep it up. May God help you do so?
October 8th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I think I have been here the whole ten years also well lets keep rocking with yahoo.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Yahoo has been my primary mail for the same length too. I’m happy with all the improvement. Congrats! But recently I’m quite disappointed cause my mail hang quite frequently.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptAs reported over on Yodel, it’s Yahoo! Mail’s birthday … and we are now at DOUBLE FIGURES! Below is the post that John Kremer, VP of Yahoo! Mail, published earlier this morning on the corporate blog. I found the milestones section to be … […]
October 8th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Happy Birthday my Yahoo! Mail! You are the best! I’ve been using Yahoo! Mail for years and I can say that they always listen to their users and improve their services. Thanks a lot, Yahoo!
October 8th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Happy B-Day, and Thank you, during tough times I was able to stay in contact through my e-mail acct.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Happy birthday, Yahoo! mail! I’ve known you almost from the beginning.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
i have really enjoyd using yahoo it has been my home page and always will be happy birthday and i wish you many more
October 8th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Have had you sense 1997… and still going… Tommy
October 8th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Happy bird day to you Y.mail. and thank’s so much for every thing..
October 8th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Hi, I Am fairly new to the computer,But I think you have done a fine job,protecting us From excessive spam . happy Birthday Yahoo.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
happy bday yahoo!
October 8th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
John, 10-8-07
Thanx for the memo.
Stephen B.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
hi my name is abood and i fine now
October 8th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
wow thats cool im a pretty random person so i think any thing is cool ne wayz happy b day SO HOW OLD R U hmmmm…… dont be shy tell tell ne wayz dont party tooo much
I LOVE YAHOO
October 8th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
lol
October 8th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
HAPPY B-DAY YAHOO!!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST E-MAIL I’VE FOUND IN TEN YEARS KEEP GROWING AND I’LL KEEP GOING WITH YOU FOR TEN MORE BIG ONES CONGRATS…..
October 8th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
All Right! Ive been using it my self for 10 years to. Yahoo to Yahoo!
October 8th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Nine years and counting. Best wishes to Yahoo staff. Have only had to contact you once. reply was fast and polite. To all of you that keep this site running-many thanks.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Happy Birthday YAHOO! If You aint Yahooing You aint E Mailing.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Many many happy growing returns of the day!
October 8th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Yahoo is my Business Email, they clean and quick load. I just hope that somedays they have better filter on email.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Happy 10th B’day Yahoo Mail
October 8th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Many many happy birthday to YAHOO with my deepest and heartiest feelings. The credit goes to all the team members working untiringly to provide a very high quality email and web services to all communities and societies. I cannot express my pure thankfulness in words as these are beyond words. With these emontions, I wish “all the best” to Yahoo in future with every positive intentions!
Sarfraz Hyder
October 8th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I have been using Yahoo Mail! since 1999..
when i was 15.. brings back lots of memories..
It was so so exciting then.. and we had lots of fun chatting over at Yahoo Chat which was i guess Java Based..
So much has changed! except the logo.. lol
October 8th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Yahoo rocks, despite competition, yahoo was able to carve a niche in the website that billions of lives were changed, and its good to note that yahoo keep itself atuned to the times, passionate to ensure that yahoo as a website becomes a way of life even for the ordinary person. its a lifestyle.
most of all thanks to the people behind this success - you deserve it
October 9th, 2007 at 12:42 am
it was a pleasure to be associated with yahoo mail for the past several years. yahoo is ahead of its competttors in many aspects and i am sure many more innovative ideas are yet to come form yahoo.
Happy Birthday YahooMail.
Dr. George Thoduka, Bangalore India
October 9th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Happy birthday YAHOO Mail, keep going, you are the best. I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Grats to all of you. I’m sure it has been a long haul to get here. Looking forward to Yahoo being around for many more years. So WOOT !!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 2:15 am
Yahoo! you are doing a good job. keep it up.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:56 am
happy birthday yahoo mail and i wish you many more in the future
October 9th, 2007 at 2:57 am
If Yahoo now offers unlimited e-mail storage why did I receive an email last week to renew my expanded storage at a cost of $19.99?
October 9th, 2007 at 3:40 am
NO LOVE … NO PAIN
October 9th, 2007 at 3:47 am
happy birtday i like very much yohoo you are doing a good job
October 9th, 2007 at 4:25 am
Congratulations. I liked and continue to like Yahoo Mail for simplicity. ( give choice to users)
Don’t complicate the mail like others.
It takes time, to find out the different options.
Earlier when logged in to Yahoo Messenger , we could go to Yahoo Mail.
Now We have to log in again. Check this up please.
October 9th, 2007 at 4:41 am
[…] Happy 10th Birthday Yahoo! Mail! If Y!M is now ten, then I can say that I am using the “vintage” version. LOL […]
October 9th, 2007 at 5:17 am
I have been a user for the whole ten years with my it being my primary email address. has taken me through several moves and ISP’s.. about 3 yrs ago I changed to the paid account.. now you have a member for life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
October 9th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Yahoo nail is great! wish I could embed music in the background like outlook express. Happy birthday. Keep up the good work.
October 9th, 2007 at 5:27 am
happy bday i like to use yahoo
October 9th, 2007 at 6:09 am
Happy 10th Birthday! I Love you lots because you give and give and give –ten thousand hours and more —of fun communication and fact finding to me and my family and friends! Always stay as good as you are!
October 9th, 2007 at 6:20 am
please check external mail accounts automatically… come on. not hard.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Very best wishes for Your anniversary! I joined Yahoo!Mail before six years and still use it for personal purposes. But it help me a lot in my work - I have a real estate company. Thank you very much for
all good things that come to me by e-mail.
God bless you all!
October 9th, 2007 at 6:28 am
Congratulations Yahoo Mail…we wish you many more years of success!
October 9th, 2007 at 6:43 am
Congratulations Yahoo Mail…May the future be even brighter.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Yahoo! U r doing a good job. Keep it up.Happy B Day
October 9th, 2007 at 7:22 am
This is my original email address , about 10 years now. It’s still my primary. Yahoo is the best. It took my friends and family another 6 or 7 years to finally “get it”.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:25 am
YAH-HOOOOOOOOOO!
October 9th, 2007 at 7:25 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Happy birthday YAHOO and be the best, just like now.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Is yahoo mail down right now? I have not been able to access my email all morning
October 9th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Happy Birthday, BUT, why can’t we access our mail today???
October 9th, 2007 at 7:37 am
And what is the reason for Yahoo Mail not working right today…. ??? It has been slow for a couple days (atleast) now and I really do appriciate the fact that is a free service, but if it isn’t going to work right…. what’s the use? We have broadband and it isn’t just on my computer or my house that it is giving problems… I guess old age issues.. Happy Birthday anyway Yahoo! I have been a loyal to you for I think 7 years now.. thanks!!
October 9th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Felicidades Yahoo en su Aniversario!
Gracias por Mantenernos Comunicados por Tanto Tiempo.
Dios los Continue Bendiciendo… y dándole más Años de Vida.
October 9th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Never regretted choosing Yahoo! Mail as my main email service provider!
Happy Birthday Yahoo!
Yahooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! =)
October 9th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I have had a paid yahoo e-mail account
since sometime in the 1990s, and have
only not canceled it because I use the
e-mail address so widely; but lately
Yahoo E-Mail has been trying to convince
me to go elsewhere by repeatedly not having
service available. I am a network
engineer and I expect and need e-mail
which is as reliable as water being
expected when one turns the tap.
October 9th, 2007 at 8:47 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Poem Title: Thinking of You
If only I have wings
I’d fly across the skies,
To be with you my love
- the only wish I have.
The emptiness inside
I can no longer hide,
The more that I miss you
I am dazzled with your love.
Everyday of my life
I’m willing to live with you,
Even in the hereafter
I’ll keep thinking about you
October 9th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Poem Title: Happy Birthday..
Your day of birth is here again,
You’re nearly catching up with us…
But steady child, take your time,
There really isn’t any rush….
You have lots to see, both old and new,
Lots to be, and lots to do,
Lots of dreams to hold on too…
That one day soon will all come true.
Lots to learn, and to forget,
Things that haven’t happened yet.
Lots of trials you must get through…
That in the end will make you…. YOU!!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Happy Birthday Yahoo I know that am late saying it but i was kind of busy so sorry
October 9th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Congratulations to the Yahoo Mail team for providing an amazing service, and constantly raising the bar of cool and useful technology. Great work, guys!
October 9th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Happy Birthday, Yahoo! Thank you for me stay in contact. Great work. Keep it up.