Yahoo! has introduced two real-time communication features in its Yahoo! Mail, claimed to be the first of their kind from a Web mail service. These include the ability to send free text messages from Yahoo! Mail to mobile phone numbers in the US, Canada, India, and the Philippines, and the ability to send instant messages (IM) from Yahoo! Mail to members of the IM community, including users of Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.

The new version of Yahoo! Mail also includes speed and performance enhancements as well as productivity refinements. Yahoo! will continue to offer Yahoo! Mail Classic, its award-winning, traditional Web mail interface, providing users a choice between experiences.

“We have always been focussed on making it easy for people to connect to those who matter most to them, and during the beta testing period of the new Yahoo! Mail, we were able to incorporate a number of enhancements based on valuable feedback from our users,” said John Kremer, Vice-President, Yahoo! Mail.

“Now, with the all-new Yahoo! Mail, we’re creating a more social e-mail experience. In addition, we wanted to make sure that people have the best possible Web mail experience regardless of their geographic location, preferences or system, so we’re continuing to offer our trusted Yahoo! Mail Classic interface,” Kremer added.