• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, February 26, 2024

A bizarre report circulated last week that Google is closing Gmail this year.  It was a fake.

Gmail said on X: “Gmail is here to stay.”

Speaking of X, the news also spread that Elon Musk is starting a rival email service: Xmail. When asked when this would happen, Musk cryptically said: “Coming soon.”

What convenient timing.  

Skeptics may wonder how Musk can hope to knock over Gmail: the service has a couple of billion users worldwide. And X has not exactly been the world’s hottest internet property. 

Moreover, there are other competitors in this space -- Microsoft Outlook for one.  

But let’s say that Musk did manage to get Xmail up and running: What could it provide that Gmail cannot? 

Perhaps it would help senders bypass the security rules that are now taking effect within Gmail.  

Either way, the prospect of instability has to concern email marketers who rely on Gmail. 

The source of the Gmail story was a fake email that some observers called a blatant satire or hoax. Many readers failed to get the joke. One person, who thought the service was really ending, said “I hate this company.” 

The phony email said: “As of August 1, 2024, Gmail is being sunsetted, marking the end of its service. This means that as of this date, Gmail will no longer support sending, receiving or storing emails.” 

The report made no sense, given that Gmail is the biggest email service. Even if Google did want to walk away from it to concentrate only on search, wouldn’t it at least try to sell the asset?

By the way, is “sunsetted” a word?