Like Google and Gmail Labs, Yahoo too has broader aspirations for Yahoo Mail. They are inching toward transforming the almighty inbox into something bigger - a social operating system. Yahoo recently made a small tweak to its interface, adding a link to an application gallery. These apps, which anyone can try, are largely different than the ones that had been previously announced and are now in private beta. The initial focus here is on gaming.
Many of us already use web-based email and their integrated instant messaging clients as hubs for managing our social connections. Yahoo and Google clearly have a lot to gain by making webmail and social applications a more seamless fit. However, they will face competition from pure-play social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which have increasingly popular messaging tools and, of course, APIs.
The space is converging from both sides and there's room for everyone. Perhaps we'll see these integrate across services too. Imagine that your Yahoo Mail Apps can tap into your Facebook connections and vice versa.
These Yahoo Mail apps, which are active in all accounts, include two social games Mafia Wars and Mytopia as well as RockYou's My Emote and the previous announced Flixter. Once you opt in there are also fan-apps from TVLoop, such as for Heroes and Lost.
As far as I can tell, these apps are designed to integrate with the Chat feature in Yahoo Mail as well as your Yahoo Address Book. The developer documentation is here while the user help is here.
When you add an application, Yahoo asks you to approve a set of permissions. These are very similar to what Facebook does. Once you ok the app it runs in its own browser window. The interface isn't seamless with Mail and it's unclear how you play with your online buddies. Any of these apps can also be added to My Yahoo.
I find it very intriguing that Yahoo is promoting social games in Mail - albeit quietly. I can easily envision the portal tightly integrating Mail and Messenger with two of their mega-franchises - Yahoo! Games and Fantasy Sports - to create something new and unique.
