Yahoo Responds to GMail (unconfirmed)

Now that we know Google's Gmail is for real (though my God, what a joke it was…) and – blush – I went out on a limb and called it a hoax – I have unconfirmed news that Yahoo has already responded to some users with an upgrade to 100MB…

Now that we know Google’s Gmail is for real (though my God, what a joke it was…) and – blush – I went out on a limb and called it a hoax – I have unconfirmed news that Yahoo has already responded to some users with an upgrade to 100MB of storage. Here’s what a Yahoo mail user claims was sent to him, no idea if this is confirmed. Will attempt to find out for you all…

UPDATE: Yahoo PR sez: This test was in the works well before Gmail rolled out, and was sent out prior to the GMail announcement…

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Yahoo! Mail
Service Notice

Dear Yahoo! Mail User,

We’ve made changes to your Yahoo! Mail account — we’ve upgraded your email
storage quota to 100MB, at no cost to you. As a loyal Yahoo! Mail user, you’ve
been randomly selected to receive this free benefit effective March 31, 2004.
You’ll also be able to attach up to 10 files to an outgoing email message
(increased from 3); and your outgoing message size can be up to 10MB
(increased from 3MB). It’s just our way of saying thanks!
You can keep these benefits as long as this Yahoo! Mail account remains
active. For your email account to stay active, you must sign in to your Yahoo!
Mail account at least once every four months and comply with all applicable
Yahoo! Terms of Service and guidelines. If your email account becomes inactive
at any time, you will no longer have the increased storage capacity.

If you purchase a Yahoo! premium service in the future that includes
additional email storage*, you will be charged the then-current price for that
service. After the purchase, your storage quota will be the level that
accompanies the purchased service or the level granted to you as part of this
offer, whichever is greater. Storage will not be additive. For example, if you
purchase a Yahoo! Mail Plus account with 100MB of storage, your total Mail
Plus storage quota will be 100MB. You will not receive any refunds or future
credits with your service upgrade.

Thanks again for using Yahoo! Mail. If you prefer not to receive this free
benefit for any reason, simply reply to this email and let us know.

Sincerely,

Yahoo! Mail

*These include SBC Yahoo! Dial or DSL, Yahoo! Plus, Yahoo! Mail Plus, or
Yahoo! Mail Extra Storage.

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8 thoughts on “Yahoo Responds to GMail (unconfirmed)”

  1. I thought it was a hoax as well. What kind of company announces a new service of this magnitude on April Fool’s day with a joke press release!? Maybe the publicity arising from the confusion was worth it, but it still seems like a pretty careless thing to do.

  2. Careless? My goodness, it was brilliant. The release was just funny enough to make you wonder if it was a joke, but it had the web site and everything else to back it up as legit. They got two full days of buzz (and counting) about this “hoax or not” issue without much discussion of the “Google becomes a portal” aspect or the privacy aspects such as analyzing email to target ads and Google’s statement in the fine print that it may store your email permanently even after you’ve deleted it and after you cancel your Gmail account. That’s all being swept under the rug while we talk about this “hoax or not” issue…. Brilliant marketing. The timing was perfect.

  3. Perhaps it IS randomly given, as I’ve been a Yahoo mail user for many years and they are still offering me extra space for $9.95.
    Perhaps some of us are more equal than others? 🙂

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