Yahoo Aug. 17 released a version of Yahoo Mail for Apple’s popular iPad tablet computer, which sold more than 4 million units in its first few months.
The release comes several months after Google fashioned a version of Gmail for the iPad’s large touch screen, and six weeks after Yahoo launched an HTML5 mobile Webmail app for Apple’s iPhone.
Yahoo Mail Product Manager Lee Parry said in a blog post Yahoo Mail for the iPad will make it easy for users to find and organize messages using full search, personal folders and smart folders with messages from important contacts.
“We’re keeping all the things users love about our new mobile Web mail, while optimizing it for the gorgeous large screen of the iPad,” Parry claimed.
Yahoo Mail for the iPad is available now here from Apple’s Safari Web browser.
Users may view photos and file attachments in their full form, or as previews directly in the inbox view.
Yahoo Mail features a dual-pane view. Google’s Gmail for iPad also offers a dual-pane view, with conversations on the left and message on the right.
Google initially offered a split-screen view for its Gmail for iPad compose window, something it punted after users complained.
Yahoo knows iPad users come to its various properties because the company has conducted two sets of research since Apple rolled out the tablet in April.
Yahoo in July said it has seen a seven times boost in visits from iPad owners, including more women iPad users.
In May, Yahoo said the first wave of iPad users who accessed Yahoo content skewed mostly male and affluent.
Glomming on to a leading new computing platform is a smart move for Yahoo. While the Internet company wields some 600 million total users across its many properties, most younger users are using Google, Facebook and Twitter to interact with the Web.