Yahoo Shuts Down More Services, Including Chinese Mail

Yahoo has closed down more services and applications – including its Chinese Yahoo Mail service – as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts.

“We realise that change is hard, but by making tough decisions like these we can focus our energy on building beautiful products for you,” explained Yahoo, which will be shutting down six products, starting on 30 April.

Events planner Yahoo Upcoming and Groupon-rival Yahoo Deals will be among the first to get the chop, with the company advising users to download their data and coupons ahead of the closure, while Yahoo’s SMS alerts service will also end at the end of the month.

Yahoo closures

Yahoo Kids will be closing down on the same day, as will J2ME feature phone apps for Yahoo Mail and Messenger. Yahoo says that users of these should use the web-based alternatives instead.

A new version of Yahoo Mail was unveiled last year, but those still using older versions will be forced to make the change on 3 June. The firm says that Yahoo Mail Classic will be shut down, but promises that those on slower connections will be offered an HTML-only version.

In a separate announcement, the company has revealed that its Chinese mail service will shut down in four months and suggests that users save their emails and transfer to another provider. It suggests Alicloud, run by Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, and says that users who migrate to another platform before 19 August will continue to receive emails sent to their Yahoo address until 31 December next year.

The faded Internet giant  has announced a number of closures in recent months as it seeks to rationalise its service offering. Earlier this week it released a new mail app for iPad and Android, along with a new weather app for iPhone. It has also redesigned its homepage as it seeks to continue its recovery under CEO Marissa Mayer, who was appointed last year.

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