thoughtstart

OK, for the life of me I can’t understand how iPhone’s launch caught Google Mail so unprepared.They do have a renewed love for all things Apple. Its top brass sits on Apple’s board. They’ve partnered to deliver YouTube content to AppleTV and iPhone. They’ve been into mobile applications for quite a while. So who forgot about Gmail?I used to be an avid Gmail user. I loved the usability, I was delighted by the hacks and clever tricks and I even liked the design. Before iDay, I was living in Gmail for half the day, with a big help from the Gmail Notifier. I used the Java Gmail Mobile in a pinch, which, aside from no background mail notification, worked reasonably well even though the Treo 650 was unsupported. Even its POP implementation wasn’t so bad. Yes, I had to process everything twice but, with a little bit of filtering in Mail.app, all my stuff ended up where it was supposed to.But now, with the iPhone into the mix, I wonder why do I even bother using it anymore? The POP Recent mode caught a lot of people by surprise, including myself. And I can’t turn it off, not without committing the iPhone to be the sole POP client. Google themselves acknowledge it to be an issue they are working on. And, even without this one snafu, things are quite messed up as I’ve detailed in my previous rant.I simply found that, once the iPhone arrived, my patterns around email have changed. I no longer keep the browser or Gmail Notifier open and instead simply use the phone as mail notification for all my accounts. And, since I’m already there, I just use the phone again for all but the longest messages. Flaws aside, its Mail application is just that good.So I think it is farewell Gmail for now. But I am counting on you Google to wow us again.