GMAIL : Google Planning to Roll Out E-Mail Service

Gmail

[Mohamed_E]

Have I missed this NY Times story somewhere else on the site?

Google Planning to Roll Out E-Mail Service [nytimes.com]

[biz.yahoo.com...]

[mercurynews.com...]

[wired.com...]

[gmail.google.com...]

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 3:55 am (utc) on April 1, 2004]
[edit reason] added links [/edit]

[werty]

I was getting the directory before, now a logo is showing:
[gmail.google.com...]

[Brett_Tabke]

I'm with you mack - I think it's real because as an april fools joke - it's not funny.

[blaze]

I disagree that it's a joke, it'd be the equivalent of corporate suicide.

I think this is just a clever marketing gamble at attracting extra attention by having people arguing whether or not it is an April Fools Joke.

It certainly is working here.

[edited by: blaze at 2:24 am (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[mack]

I noticed that the ip address appears to be the same for the directory and gmail.

Perhaps the directory has entered the first phase of removal to alocate the hardware to gmail.

Mack.

[jonknee]

If it turns out to be real, they are genius. What better way to announce it? All the "is it real" buzz. A day later, all the "wow it is" buzz. And making it an Orkut style roll out is another smart move. People will FIGHT to register.

[mifi601]

I do not think this is a prank and my gut feeling tells me I will be one of the first to use gmail ....I am sick and tired of yahoo - have been using it too long and it got bloated, takes forever to load and their ads make it even slower to load (even though most of the time I use it with pics turned of ..)

[Elijah]

I think it must be for real. Would they really have a press release on their site if it was just a joke? [google.com...]

[mack]

It reminds me to an extent of the first few days of myway.com when it was announced on here.

No more joe1243blogs@mailserver simpley use your first name and the chances are it will be available.

Would be nice to have that choice again.

Mack.

[jonknee]

I think it must be for real. Would they really have a press release on their site if it was just a joke?

You weren't around for PigeonRank were you?

[google.com...]

[mack]

Ok now im paranoid... I just found myself looking for hidden text on gmail.google.com lol

Haha "pidgeon rank" now that was class :)

Mack.

[edited by: mack at 2:30 am (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[rfgdxm1]

[webmasterworld.com...]

GoogleGuy:

"Google's mission: to organize the world's information, making it universally accessible and useful. Email == information. :)"

[GoogleGuy]

"If it turns out to be real, they are genius. What better way to announce it? All the "is it real" buzz. A day later, all the "wow it is" buzz."

So what did people decide? Is it for real or an April Fool's Day joke?

I'm getting hungry. I'd better go grab some dinner. It might take me a couple hours to get back to this thread..

[blaze]

Give your marketing guys a raise. I'm excited!

[mack]

Well it just goes to show. This thread has caused more excitement that the prospect of m$ entering search.

Not many threads move this fast.

Mack.

[rfgdxm1]

>So what did people decide? Is it for real or an April Fool's Day joke?

I'm betting on the former. If this does go live, tell me when I can sign up. Be warned I currently get massive amounts of spam.

[Mardi_Gras]

Starting Thursday, other Google employees will be invited to participate and to invite some of their friends and relatives. The service should be generally available within "weeks or months," he said

If it is the rollout of something new, it sure doesn't seem like there is much to announce. A few friends and relatives will start using the service Thursday? And that gets a news release?

But the flip side - that it's a really, really, lame April Fool's joke - is equally hard to believe.

Time will tell. I'll try not to let the excitement keep me from sleeping ;)

[loanuniverse]

So what did people decide? Is it for real or an April Fool's Day joke?

Any other day real {I wouldn't put it past the guys that were able to make money out of search when everyone else was getting out to figure out a way to make this work} , April 1st release.... joke.

[jonknee]

If it is the rollout of something new, it sure doesn't seem like there is much to announce. A few friends and relatives will start using the service Thursday? And that gets a news release?

Remember Orkut? According to the C¦Net article, those in the system will be able to invite friends. Pretty smart way to do things in my opinion.

[blaze]

Are you saying that the roll-out will be on a friendster type invitation only basis?

Where do you see this? GoogleGuy, can you confirm?

Clever clever marketing if that is the case.

[mack]

From a joke point of view this is cool from a IT/web development point of view. The average joe wouldent have a clue why we are even having this discussion.

The real life equivilent of this would be an airline to anounce their new ruit, then tell us it was a joke.

It has to be real, I hope it is... This has massive potential for the web in general.

Mack.

[edited by: mack at 2:47 am (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[jonknee]

Friendster didn't have invite only, Orkut did. But yea, it makes scaling easier (less people get in at first), plus it makes everyone want in a lot more. People sold invites to Orkut on eBay. If it's real, I bet you see everyone begging for an invite soon.

[Brett_Tabke]

Many stories out there about it now (times, cnet, infoworld, slash...).

So, it looks to be the real deal to me.

The 1gig stuff isn't real impressive to me. I want to know the features.

[Bdespain]

Anyone notice how unhelpful GG's post was? Come on guy, spill the beans.

BSD

[jonknee]

It should be known though, that these shops that write news online don't do the best fact checking. Especially fast breaking stories like this (the PR hit the wires less than 3 hours ago). If some VP's at Google are in on it, the joke could make it to the big press players without much time.

That being said, I'm about 70/30 sure this is real. It would add a lot of cash to the IPO value. If they have 25M registered uses at IPO time, that's value.

[sdani]

<<It would add a lot of cash to the IPO value. If they have 25M registered uses at IPO time, that's value.>>>

Not always true.
1. Do people really need another email service (except the size they are promising. If they can provide this size, who stops yahoo matching it.)
2. If you try to do everything, you may loose focus on something in which you are really good.
3. Will you use an email, which has an adsense ad at the bottom?
4. Will you be willing to spend money on AdSense ads, which are not keyword targetted?

I think this is just a "rushed" decision, otherwise they would have atleast completed their FAQ page before launching the link in a press release.

[nodoubt]

It's no joke. I've seen it in action.

[jonknee]

3. Will you use an email, which has an adsense ad at the bottom?

Have you used Hotmail? It has a lot worse than a text ad. I assume that they have researched this a bit :P.

(If advertisers can make more money selling their products than they pay, it doesn't matter what the ads are on).

[NetRoll]

I can imagine...

Search : login info filetype:email

:)

[mack]

"Will you be willing to spend money on AdSense ads, which are not keyword targetted?"

It may be very well targeted. It will flow through Googles servers. It may even be web based so the ad will always display when you view your email.

This is a very effective way of getting google ads to web users who don't actualy surf the web. many people use the internet for nothing more than email.

Mack.

[skipfactor]

That 'user complaint' threw me for a moment, but I say it's real. Google playing an April Fool's joke on April Fool's and GoogleGuy plays along. :)