TOM Free Mail, which has been running for 26 years, will stop providing free services. Are you still using online mailboxes?
2024-08-13
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On August 12, TOM Mail, which claims to be one of the earliest Chinese email brands, sent a notification email to its users saying that it would discontinue its free email service on September 13.
On August 13, a staff member of TOM Group responded to a reporter from Upstream News (reporting mailbox: [email protected]) and said: "The situation is true. It is an adjustment of the company's email business. Although the free email service will be discontinued, the VIP email service will continue to operate." Employee: VIP mailbox is still in operation
The reporter logged into the official TOM website and saw that TOM Mailbox is a product of TOM Group (stock code: 2383). TOM Group is headquartered in Hong Kong and is a member of Cheung Kong Hutchison Holdings Limited under Li Ka-shing. The reporter clicked on the official website to register for a free mailbox experience. After the page jumped, the green theme interface turned into a gray-white free mailbox page, which stated: "Tom Mailbox registration is suspended." A staff member of the TOM Group explained to the upstream news reporter: "Due to business adjustments, the free mailbox has stopped registration. We have sent a notice to users that the free mailbox service will be stopped."
The TOM Mail team sent a notice to users about the suspension of free services. Screenshot from the Internet
Later, the reporter saw from the screenshot of the notice "About Stopping TOM Free Mailbox Service" that due to adjustments to the mailbox business, the TOM mailbox team will stop the free mailbox service on September 13, 2024, and the mailbox account will not be able to log in after September 27, 2024. During this period, users can log in to mail.tom.com to back up important emails. After September 27, 2024, the official will clear the emails in the mailbox. According to media reports, TOM Mailbox was launched in March 1998 and has been in operation for 26 years. In December 2017, TOM Mailbox announced that the number of users of its seven mailbox sub-brands has reached hundreds of millions. At present, TOM Mailbox also has paid mailbox services such as VIP mailboxes. The minimum package price of VIP business mailboxes is 15 yuan/month. The above staff said: "VIP mailboxes are still in operation, and users can sign up for paid VIP mailboxes to enjoy a better service experience."
User: Generally only use email in specific scenarios
In fact, e-mail has a history of nearly 30 years since the 1990s. Well-known brands include 163, Sohu, NetEase, Sina and other free mailboxes. However, after the baptism of the Internet tide, some brands have withdrawn from the stage of history. Yahoo China mailbox will stop service from November 1, 2021; in August 2012, Microsoft announced that Hotmail mailbox will be replaced by Outlook; 21CN free mailbox entity company was absorbed and merged, and personal data information has been transferred to the merged party. According to statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center, the scale of email users in my country reached about 260 million in 2016.
Free email registration is suspended. Screenshot of TOM email official website
With the popularity of instant messaging tools such as WeChat and DingTalk, the frequency of traditional email usage has decreased, but people still use email to communicate in specific scenarios. On August 13, a student named Zeng (pseudonym) from Southwest University told reporters: "Students generally use email to communicate with teachers. In addition, when looking for internship opportunities, I would use email to submit resumes. Generally, important information is mainly communicated through WeChat or DingTalk." Ms. Liu, who has been working for many years, told reporters: "Companies generally give employees a corporate email address, but it is not often used unless it is used in specific scenarios. We usually send notifications in WeChat or DingTalk work groups."
Upstream News reporter Feng Shengyong, interns Xu Yiqing and Zhang Yidan
