Yahoo! copies Google with 1GB email storage

Yahoo! has increased the storage limit of its free email service tenfold in China, but users elsewhere may not get to enjoy the same benefit anytime soon.

In a statement on its website, the company said it has boosted the storage capacity for its free mail service from 100MB to 1GB, matching the storage of rival Google's upcoming Gmail offering.

While Gmail's trials are confined to a select group, Yahoo!'s upgrade will be extended to all existing and new users of its mail service in China. However, subscribers must first log on to Yahoo's instant messenger service and add other users to their contact lists to qualify for the 1GB of storage.

A representative of Yahoo! South East Asia said there are "no immediate plans" to offer a similar upgrade to users in other countries.

The move marks the latest attempt by a major search giant to garner a greater share of China's booming internet market, which, according to the China internet Network Information Centre, is expected to exceed 100 million users by year's end.

Winston Chai wirtes for News.com