Mailbox updated their iOS app to add support for Yahoo and iCloud (Me.com and Mac.com). This is by far the most significant update we’ve seen from the email syncing service since the debut of their app. Mailbox launched their app with support for gmail only, but now that the company has been acquired by Dropbox, it has access to a wider range of resources and has used them wisely to expand its supported emailing services.

Mailbox was amongst one of the first apps to promote the idea that every email requires an action, be it to archive, delete, postpone or list. While these features may seem basic, they require a tremendous amount of background server operations. This is due to the fact that Mailbox relies on its cloud service to carry out its tasks.

Think of all the emails that you receive everyday! Now think about the number of people who are using the service (1 million as of March 2013)! Now think about how fast the email are delivered to your inbox via Mailbox. Every single details of these operations requires backbone processing power.

At its early days, the company had to be very selective about which emailing service to support first. They had to take into consideration the ease of API integrations, and user demand (Purely business). Gmail obviously won that war. Now that the company is settled in at Dropbox and has more money and resources to play with, they’re listening to user demands and adding more email providers to their list. Although there is still not Android app.

While this is a big step forward for Mailbox in reaching out to a wider audience, it will never be a truly versatile service without support of POP and IMAP. While I use Gmail to email friends and family, I rely heavily on POP and IMAP for work and blog. I absolutely love Mailbox, but I think it’s such a shame that I have to keep going back to the stock iOS Mail app to check my work email.

The fact that the company has added support for two additional clients, it shows us that they are comfortable with the client (UI & UX) and server end (push, fetch, etc…) operations. Based on that, I’m sure we’ll be getting support for other mailing services and even the precious POP and IMAP. I realise this is a bit far fetched and way into the future, but I wouldn’t mind replacing my desktop mail app with Mailbox. But I’m sure Android gets first dibs at an app.

To make sure you stay up to date with all Mailbox related news, make sure you follow me on twitter or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.