Yahoo Redesigns Mail to Look a Lot More Like Its Homepage

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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer talking about the company's mobile first strategy during CES in Las Vegas in January 2014.

Image: Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

By Karissa Bell2014-04-29 16:49:28 UTC

Ever since Yahoo tapped Marissa Mayer as CEO in 2012, the company has employed a "mobile first" strategy, which has included acquiring an array of mobile-focused startups and redesigning its own mobile offerings.

Yahoo Mail is the latest app to get a makeover; it now features content from Yahoo's news, finance and sports and weather sections.

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Yahoo hasn't changed any of the mail app's core features with the update. In fact, the email itself looks pretty much the same. But the new app integrates news, weather, sports and finance into mail.

"One of the design principles we had from the very beginning was, if you're a Yahoo user and you use this app on a daily basis, we want to make sure that we don't get in the way," Yahoo's senior director of product management for mobile, Fernando Delgado, told Mashable. "All the fully fledged functionality is still there and it's familiar."

When launching the updated app, a new menu bar appears at the bottom with "News" and "Today" tabs. News takes you to a stream of news stories tailored to your interests, while Today provides weather, sports and stock market updates.

In keeping with the pledge to "not get in the way," the new experience is optional; users can opt out if they don't want to see the News and Today tabs.

The app also personalizes the content to each user, much like Yahoo's homepage. The News section will tailor stories to fit your interests while Today provides weather, stock and sports updates based on your location and interests.

As of now, the redesigned Mail app will only roll out to iPhone users, but Delgado hinted that tablet and Android versions may be in the works.

The new Yahoo Mail app is available in the App Store.

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Topics: apps-and-software, Apps and Software, iOS, Tech, Yahoo, Yahoo Mail