SANFRANCISCO -

Yahoo Inc. will introduce new features Monday for its popularWeb-based e-mail program, including software that allows computer usersto type text messages on a keyboard and send them directly to someone'scell phone.

The enhancements make it easier to send e-mail,instant messages or text messages from a single Web site - no need tolaunch or toggle between separate applications or devices. The featureswill be available to users in the United States, Canada, India and thePhilippines.

The most obvious beneficiaries will be parents, whowill be able to use their keyboards to type messages sent to theirchildren's cell phones - no thumb-twisting typing on a dial pad, saidYahoo (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) Vice President John Kremer.

"We'regiving you the right way to connect at the right time with rightperson," said Kremer, whose two preteen sons vastly prefer text andinstant messages to e-mail.

The changes come amid fierce competition among providers of free, Web-based e-mail services. Yahoo and Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people )'s Hotmail have long dominated the niche, but Google Inc. (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people )'s Gmail has grown quickly since its introduction in April 2004.

InMarch, Yahoo announced that it would provide unlimited storage space,and earlier this month Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said Hotmailwould increase free storage from 2 to 5 gigabytes. Time Warner (nyse: TWX - news - people )Inc.'s AOL, the fourth largest e-mail provider, began offeringunlimited storage last summer. Google provides nearly 3 gigabytes.

Sunnyvale-basedYahoo bills the changes as the most significant overhaul of Yahoo Mailsince its launch in 1997. The new version replaces a one-year-old betaprogram and adds new features, including text messaging, a morecomprehensive e-mail search engine and an easier to read and editcontacts database.

Users who don't want the upgrades - or whosecomputers are too slow to handle them - can opt to remain with thecurrent version, which Yahoo will call "Classic."

The new versionallows users to click on a contact and then select whether to send thatperson an e-mail, instant message or text message. You could send ane-mail or instant message if you know the recipient is at the computer- or a text message if the recipient is on the road with a cell phone.

"Thisgives people the ability to reach anybody in their contact databaseanytime," said Mike McGuire, vice president of research at industryanalysis firm Gartner Inc. (nyse: IT - news - people ) "For good or evil, it's going to be much easier for anybody to get a hold of you."

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