• by April 1, 2004

"Google Gets the Message, Launches Gmail." At first glance, the headline seemed well, like a joke. It's April Fool's day, after all. (I'm still waiting for my colleagues to fool with me).

Is this Gmail thing for real, or just a really great gag? We're still scratching our heads on this one. Either way, it's a brilliant communications strategy because the announcement has people talking about Google, stoking the hype for the most eagerly anticipated initial public offering since Yahoo!

The model for Gmail seems sort of murky. Google is testing Gmail, a free email service that's capable of storing 500,000 pages of email. A third-party will scan email messages for contextual relevancy. That sounds preposterous. I can't imagine it will fly.

Even the company's press release on Gmail sounded like a hoax. "Amidst rampant media speculation, Google Inc. today announced it is testing a preview release of Gmail ..." The release noted that the idea for the product came from an exasperated Google user who "kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them," Google's co-founder Larry Page said.

Gmail is promoted on the Google site. "Gmail is an experiment in a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that you should never have to delete mail and you should always be able to find the message you want." The key features, Google says, are searching, not sorting; 1,000 megabytes of free storage; messages grouped with replies and displayed as conversations; and best of all - no pop-up ads or banners: "You see only relevant text ads and links to related web pages of interest."

On the cusp of what is expected to be a massive IPO, I wonder how Google is able to continue reeling off new products, services, and features in what is supposed to be a quiet period. The company has made numerous announcements in recent weeks. On email, Google, no doubt, feels it must compete with free offerings from Yahoo! and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. ComScore Networks reports that email is an important feature for portals with the average visitor spending 13 of the 29 days in February in email and about four hours during the month.

ComScore reports that Google racked up more than 60 million unique visitors, or about 40 percent of all U.S. Internet users. The brand ranks within the top 5 Internet properties.

It looks more and more like Google wants to be a full service player. The company's launch of Gmail, is "yet another shot across the bow of the industry, sending a signal that Google will compete across a broad range of applications traditionally offered by portals," said Dan Hess, senior vice president of comScore Networks.

By the way, the Minute signed up for Gmail this morning and as of 3 p.m. EST, still hadn't received any confirmation from Google.