Google takes aim at fast e-mail for mobile phones
By Eric Auchard
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. aims to close the gap
between the classic way people get e-mail -- sitting at a
computer -- and the slow-as-molasses reality of receiving
e-mail on cell phones, the company said on Thursday.
The Web search leader is introducing a custom version of
its Gmail e-mail service that can run on any phone with Java
software, or close to 300 different mobile phone devices.
"Because it is an application and not running through a
browser ... it looks and feels like Gmail on the desktop," said
Tony Hsieh, product manager for the Gmail on mobile service.
Gmail for mobile, as the new service is known, promises
computer-like response times for viewing e-mail. And it retains
many of the features users expect when running Gmail in Web
browsers on their personal computers, Hsieh said.
These include the ability to search through one's e-mail
history, to organise e-mails according to conversation, and
automatic synchronization so any e-mail read on the phone show
up as already read when you sign on a computer the next time.
Initially, the service is available in the United States on
phones from Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile and Cingular, which
is a joint venture between AT&T Inc. and BellSouth. Google
later plans to expand Gmail for mobile to other countries and
languages.
The phones need to be able to run or support Java software,
a programming language commonly used in cell phones to create
games and other applications.
document attachments, including Word or Adobe Acrobat files and
photos, which are instantly viewable and automatically resized
to fit the user's phone screen.
True e-mail obsessives have other options, but they are
pricey and out of reach of most consumers. Millions of
professionals have become instantly available via Blackberry
phones. Millions more use more or less copycat e-mail services
on smart phones.
Virtually all mobile phones sold worldwide for the past 18
months come with a Web browser. Just be prepared to wait 30
seconds to a minute to sign on and download each e-mail.
Users of Gmail, or rivals like Yahoo Mail, can already view
their e-mail this way, but it's slow and hard to use.
Mobile users can go to http://gmail.com/app on their Java
phone browser to download the application. Gmail for mobile is
free of charge from Google, although data charges by phone
carriers may apply for downloading lots of mobile e-mail.
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