Thursday, April 01, 2004

Gmail: you can't buy this kind of press ...

Google Gets the Message, Launches Gmail

So ... is Google's 1GB email service an April Fool's joke -- or not? The NYT and many, many slashdotters took yesterday's announcement seriously, but one of the very first Slashdot posts noted that April 1 was near.

This Google press release is clearly a spoof. So is this a simple April Fool's joke?

I'm betting it's more clever than that. I think they'll launch something similar, but it won't be called GMail. So this is kind of a double-Fool, establishing Google as definitively the world's most cool and clever company. Microsoft must be furious at this astounding example of guerilla marketing.

The 1GB free storage though, is a spoof. I wouldn't be shocked if they did provide a 1GB top limit, but it won't be free for most of us.

BTW: The real secret of Google's email service will be the deep integration of syndication (RSS, etc).

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