Yahoo Mail users hit by new round of product cuts

Internet search engine Yahoo is to pull the plug on several online services to make way for a new generation of mobile applications.

The company is to close several products from the end of this month, including Yahoo Deals, Yahoo SMS Alerts, Yahoo Kids, as well as Yahoo Mail and Messenger feature phone apps.

It has also announced plans to shut down older versions of Yahoo Mail, from the start of June, with users encouraged to switch to the latest version of the product.

These are just the latest changes to be made since CEO Marissa Mayer organised a major overhaul of the company's design and policy last year.

Since taking over in July, Mayer has led the company through a series of dramatic changes, including a redesign of the Yahoo! homepage, availability of free food to the workforce, and a controversial crack down on home working.

In a blog post, announcing the product cull, Yahoo said the cuts would allow it to provide better products in the future.

"We realise that change is hard but by making tough decisions like these we can focus our energy on building beautiful products like the two we introduced this week," said the post.

The aforementioned services, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Weather are now available on iPad, Android devices, and iPhone, respectively.

The blog post provides few overt explanations as to why the services are going away, but emphasises that newer versions of products like Yahoo! Mail are "faster and easier-to-use."