Citing time consumption and tedium over switching email accounts, the Radicati group, an online market research firm, has suggested that current Yahoo email service members do not move to Google’s Gmail. The group also acknowledged that current email service providers should follow Gmail’s lead and increase the amount of storage that they offer.
As reported in InternetWeek.com, Radicati released a report that outlined Yahoo’s strategy in response to Google’s launching of Gmail. A free version of the report is available here, while the full report costs $40 to read. The report stated that Gmail represents a threat to other free email services.
So, if you want a great deal of bells and whistles with your email service/portal, stick with Yahoo. If users want a clean, streamlined, effective search engine/email account, wait for Gmail to become available to the public; that or solicit invites. There has still been no word for when Gmail will become available to the general public.
One thing that stood out in Radicati’s report was the mentioning of Gmail’s placement of contextual text ads. Instead of admonishing Google for this practice, has many have done, Radicati actually compliments Gmail for making their ads text-based, instead of using graphic-based ads.
This is one of the first times I’ve read a report that mentions Gmail’s ad service in a positive light; the majority of the reaction towards this practice centered on Gmail’s scanning of all incoming and outgoing mailings, and the privacy implications accompanying this practice.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest search news.
