In an effort to boost its webmail usage or delay the exodus of free mail users from Yahoo to Google GMail, Yahoo has introduced the ymail.com email domain and reintroduced RocketMail.com.

Yahoo.com email addresses are currently used (or claimed) by over 260 million global users, and chances are, if you’re new to Yahoo Mail, your name is taken and you probably have to register some ridiculous email address, like [email protected]

Now, Yahoo Mail users have a more vivid choice in registering their favorite email addresses or usernames. Ymail.com and Rocketmail.com will have the same features as Yahoo.com email addresses like unlimited storage, instant messaging integration and virus protection.

Rocketmail is a rather old email domain, and at one time was one of the most widely used webmail services which rivaled Hotmail. Yahoo acquired Rocketmail.com in 1997 and used its interface as the foundation of Yahoo Mail. After 1997, no new Rocketmail.com email addresses could be registered.

After the acquisition, Yahoo let Rocketmail users continue to use their email addresses, and up until today, those with Rocketmail.com email addresses were regarded as the original users of the Internet. I guess now that Yahoo is letting anyone register a Rocketmail.com email address, that distinction has been taken away.