In the early days of what we know as the Internet, Yahoo emerged as a search giant. It was a huge online directory that categorized websites and made the categories searchable. To enhance their online prominence, they offered free email addresses that were easily accessible from around the world.
At the time, everyone wanted at least one email address and hundreds of companies were offering freebies. Many of those are long gone, although Yahoo held its ground. So did Bill Gates’ Microsoft free webmail offering – Hotmail. Both Yahoo and Hotmail offered a limited amount of free server space unless users were willing to pay to increase the size of their mailbox. Millions of users signed up with each service.
Enter: Google
In 1998, Google entered the search system battles with its own version of a search engine. In keeping with the tradition of what makes a great website even better, they offered a superior product in their searching capabilities. Moreover, Google had and still maintains a clean and simple appearance, making it quick to download and easy to use. Millions of people switched to Google as their primary search engine but still relied on email giants Yahoo and Hotmail for free email.
Google Launches Gmail
In Google-style, they came up with novel ways to use their searching capabilities. Although they were not the first to do so, they launched an excellent image search function. Additionally, their news service, catalogs, and shopping network are all increasing in popularity. Given the rise to prominence of these products, it was only a matter of time for the Google people to release their own version of a free webmail service: Gmail.
Gmail Marketing
Instead of just opening it up to the masses, Google decided to market Gmail in a different way. They gave email addresses to their employees who could then send Gmail “invites” to other people. Using this slow distribution method, they were able to test their Beta version (“Beta” indicates that it is in a testing stage).
The combination of anticipation and hype has lead to craziness over the acquisition of Gmail accounts. Web users are scrambling for Gmail addresses and it has brought the greed out in many. Once a users gets an account, Google provides a few invites to spread around. Some users create more personal accounts while others send the invites to friends and family.
On the flipside, many people who have been fortunate enough to get an account have been selling their Gmail invites on Ebay, Craigslist, and other websites. Greed still runs deep on the Internet. The sad part is that eventually, everyone will have access to Gmail email accounts. Also, with thousands of new Gmail accounts starting each day, the account name you want is probably already gone anyway!
It was only a matter of time for yours truly to be invited into the Gmail club and now that I’m in, I can review it with credibility!
Gmail Advantages
Google is a trendsetter and usually offers products that incorporate new ideas to enhance the end-user’s Google-related experience. This trend continues with their free webmail service Gmail.
The single most impressive feature of Gmail is the amount of space allocated to users. They offer a GIG (1 GB) of storage space, meaning users will not have delete old emails to ensure that their mailbox is not full. In anticipation of Gmail’s coming, Yahoo increased their mail storage space from 4 megs to 100 megs and hotmail increased theirs to 250 Megs. Still, Gmail offers 10 times what Yahoo is offering. Essentially, users can store thousands of emails before filling up.
A second useful part of Gmail is that it does not have the usual folder set-up for a file system where users can place emails into user-created folders, a categorization method that is the standard format for emails that are to be saved. Instead, they employ a more complex but useful system called “labels.” Additionally, users can search through their emails. It is as though you are using the Google search engine but only to find specific information in your stored emails. Also, Gmail allows users to tag their emails by placing a star next to the most important ones.
Another feature which makes Gmail an impressive offering is that users can import their address books from many other systems including competitors Yahoo and Hotmail, and Outlook.
Next, the “conversations” break down is usability feature that will come in handy. Gmail saves all of your back and forth email exchanges as one link in your inbox. When you click the link, you get all of the correspondence with that person in a list. This is similar to the threads in a message board. Truly a useful feature.
The Downside of Gmail
Gmail has its downside. Perhaps the most brilliant yet eerie is that users will see contextual advertising in their emails. The Google ads you see on this page are based on technology that reads the topic of the webpage and places ads accordingly. Gmail uses a similar principle, only it reads the content of the user’s email. For example, if your email is about bikini models, you will see ads on the side of your email about swimwear and modeling. It is an automated system so actual people do not read users’ personal messages. However, who knows what kind of abuse of privacy this will lead to in the future?
On a related note, users of free email services should always be aware of the company’s privacy policy. Similarly, always remember that sending an email is more like sending a post-card than a sealed envelope.
Finally, Gmail cannot send HTML emails. I personally prefer simple non-HTML emails so this certainly does not bother me. At least it can read HTML emails.
Free Email Services Continued?
Google has a decent product in Gmail and it remains to be seen whether they will continue to expand their free webmail services.
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