HumanIPO reportedlast month users of Yahoo! accounts that had become inactive would lose them to prospective new users given an opportunity to sign up for the “Yahoo! ID they've always wanted”.
Identification requests opened yesterday and will be open until August 7, with users able to submit up to five names at wishlist.yahoo.com.
The company has not clarified how many old email IDs are being made available, but has notified users they have 30 days to log into an inactive account if they wish to retain it.
In a blog post, Yahoo! senior vice president for platforms Jay Rossiter said users would be able to obtain email IDs that were simpler and more personal.
“If you're like me, you want a Yahoo! ID that's short, sweet, and memorable like [email protected] instead of [email protected],” he wrote.
Yahoo has been revamping itself recently through acquisition of new products such as Tumblr, Xobni and Qwiki, and remodeling of others such as Flickr.