 | |
 A screenshot of AOL Mail inbox in January 2014. | |
Type of site | Web application (E-mail, webmail) |
|---|---|
| Available in | 54 languages |
| Owner | AOL |
| URL | mail |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Required |
| Current status | Online |
Content license | Proprietary |
AOL Mail (stylized as Aol Mail.) is a free web-based email service provided by AOL, a division of Yahoo! Inc.
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AOL Mail has the following features available:
If an AOL Mail account is inactive for 12 months, it may be deleted. [8]
In 1993, both America Online (AOL) and Delphi started connecting their proprietary e-mail services to the Internet. [9]
As of October 1997, AOL Mail was the world's largest e-mail provider, with around 9 million subscribers [10] (identical with the number of AOL subscribers). [11]
In 1997, AOL launched NetMail, a web-based version of its e-mail service. It was initially criticized for only working on Internet Explorer, but a later Java-written version ensured compatibility with Netscape Navigator. [12] The service was renamed AOL Mail on the Web in December 1999. [13]
In January 2001, an e-mail alert service for text-based digital cellphones and pagers was launched. [14]
In 2004, AOL tested a new free webmail service for the public, without the need of customers subscribing to AOL. This was done in an effort to compete better against MSN Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. [15] The service launched in May 2005 under the name AIM Mail, with 2 gigabytes of mail storage and tightly integrated with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). It is based on technology from MailBlocks, which AOL acquired in 2004. [16]
From August 2006, AOL became entirely free of charge for broadband users. [17] [18] The same month, Netscape Mail was migrated to AIM Mail. [19]
In November 2010, AOL released Project Phoenix, an email application program that features a Quick Bar where emails, text messages, and AOL Instant Messenger messages can be sent from one area. It also lets people add up to five accounts into it. [20] In 2012, AOL released the Alto Mail software.
As of July 2012, there were 24 million AOL Mail users. [21] By 2021, the number of paying users had dropped to 1.5 million. [22]
On March 16, 2017, Verizon, which had acquired AOL in 2015, announced that it would discontinue its in-house email services for internet subscribers, and migrate all customers to AOL Mail. [23]
AOL is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc.
Webmail is an email service that can be accessed using a standard web browser. It contrasts with email service accessible through a specialised email client software. Additionally, many internet service providers (ISP) provide webmail as part of their internet service package. Similarly, some web hosting providers also provide webmail as a part of their hosting package.
Gmail is the email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also accessible through the official mobile application. Google also supports the use of third-party email clients via the POP and IMAP protocols.
Yahoo! Mail is an email service offered by the American company Yahoo, Inc. The service is free for personal use, with an optional monthly fee for additional features. Business email was previously available with the Yahoo! Small Business brand, before it transitioned to Verizon Small Business Essentials in early 2022. Launched on October 8, 1997, as of January 2020, Yahoo! Mail has 225 million users.
Oddpost was a pay-for webmail service, in 2002, that pioneered the use of JavaScript to mimic a desktop mail application, the first notable foray into using Ajax methodologies for webmail. Ajax techniques minimized the amount of data sent during an email session by sending "Datapacks" instead of reloading the whole interface on every click like a traditional webmail service. This made the service much faster, at the time, than its counterparts.
RocketMail was one of the first major free webmail services. The service was originally a product of Four11 Corporation. For a brief time, RocketMail battled with Hotmail for the number-one spot among free webmail services. Four11, including RocketMail, was acquired by Yahoo! in 1997 for $92 million. Yahoo! assimilated the RocketMail engine. Yahoo! Mail was essentially the old RocketMail Webmail system.
Netvibes is a French company that offers web services.
Push email is an email system that provides an always-on capability, in which when new email arrives at the mail delivery agent (MDA), it is immediately, actively transferred (pushed) by the MDA to the mail user agent (MUA), also called the email client, so that the end-user can see incoming email immediately. This is in contrast with systems that check for new incoming mail every so often, on a schedule. Email clients include smartphones and, less strictly, IMAP personal computer mail applications.
An email hosting service is an Internet hosting service that operates email servers.
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable webmail providers who offer a web interface in English.
The public history of Gmail dates back to 2004. Gmail, a free, advertising-supported webmail service with support for Email clients, is a product from Google. Over its history, the Gmail interface has become integrated with many other products and services from the company, with basic integration as part of Google Account and specific integration points with services such as Google+, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Hangouts, Google Meet, YouTube, and Google Buzz. It has also been made available as part of G Suite. The Official Gmail Blog tracks the public history of Gmail from July 2007.
GMX Mail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Global Mail eXchange or Global Message eXchange in Germany. Users may access received GMX mail via webmail, or using POP3 or IMAP4 protocols. Mail is sent using SMTP. Founded in 1997, GMX is a subsidiary of Ionos SE, a stock-listed company in Germany, and a sister company to Ionos and Fasthosts Internet. In addition to an email address, each GMX account includes a Mail Collector, Address Book, Organizer, and File Storage. Every user can register up to 10 individual GMX email addresses. Popup ads are displayed to all users, including premium, at GMX login; as of 2021 GMX was the only large email provider using popup ads.
Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft. This includes a webmail interface featuring mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks services. Outlook can also be accessed via email clients using the IMAP or POP protocols.
The Gmail interface makes Gmail unique amongst webmail systems for several reasons. Most evident to users are its search-oriented features and means of managing e-mail in a "conversation view" that is similar to an Internet forum.
ilkposta is a free webmail service, located in Istanbul, Turkey. The service started as a research and development (R&D) project in 2001. This project primarily intended to decrease E-mail spams in users' inbox. Secondary focus given on user experience for providing better server responsiveness where bandwidth (computing) is a profound issue.
EmailTray is a lightweight email client for the Microsoft Windows operating system. EmailTray was developed by Internet Promotion Agency S.A., a software development d.
Bigfoot International, Inc. was a New York City based holding company, which developed email communications, marketing automation and customer interaction software products during the dot-com era. Founded in 1997 by Lenny Barshack and James Hoffman, it grew out of Bigfoot.com, a free e-mail provider and Web directory. It eventually developed into a group of three subsidiaries: Bigfoot.com, Bigfoot Interactive, and Neoplanet, Inc. The company ended in 2000.
A mailbox provider, mail service provider or, somewhat improperly, email service provider is a provider of email hosting. It implements email servers to send, receive, accept, and store email for other organizations or end users, on their behalf.
Dropmyemail is a cloud-based e-mail backup service owned by Dropmysite. It allows users to automatically backup their e-mails with the ability to view, migrate or restore them via web browser.
MSN Dial-up is an Internet service provider operated by Microsoft in the United States and formerly also in several other countries. Originally named The Microsoft Network, it debuted as a proprietary online service on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of Windows 95. In 1996 and 1997, a revised web-based version of the ISP was an early experiment at interactive multimedia content on the Internet.
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