BackWill users switch over to Inbox from Gmail?
Google says users have to decide if they want to switch over to Inbox, available currently on an invitation-only basis
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Hyderabad: Google Inc. hopes to replace Gmail with a new offering called Inbox that it introduced in October, but acknowledges that much will depend on whether users are willing to give up an email service with which they have been familiar for the last 11 years.
“We hope that over the next 10 years, that’s what happens—that all of the Gmail users choose to use Inbox. That’s where we end up," Alex Gawley, product director of Gmail, said in an interview in Hyderabad on 24 March.
Launched in October, Inbox is currently open to users on an invitation-only basis. It works on smartphones and tablets that are powered by the Android operating system (OS) and Apple Inc.’s iOS besides the Chrome, Safari and Firefox browsers on personal computers.
Gawley admits, though, that it will be users who make that decision for Google. “In the end, Gmail users would be able to tell us whether they thought it was a better experience than Gmail."
Gmail was launched in 2004 and has more than 500 million users, making it the largest email service. In 2014, it became the first stand-alone smartphone application to touch 1 billion installations on the Android platform.
So, when the application rolled out in October, only users who had invitations could come on board, similar to how Gmail was launched, on an invitation-only basis.
Sporting a minimalistic design, Inbox clubs different categories of email such as travel tickets, online purchases, bank statements or utility payments into what it calls “bundles". Attachments such as photos or documents are displayed as snapshots on a message instead of being buried inside. Inbox also trawls an email to highlight the most relevant information in a snapshot on the home screen of the app.
Value addition comes in the form of providing relevant information within Inbox itself, without a user having to search for it. A flight ticket in an email, for example, will give users live information on departure time and gate number within the app itself.
Inbox also deeply integrates to-do and reminder features into the core functionality of an email. It not only reminds a user to renew his/her passport but also points to the website where he/she can get the relevant information (or apply online). Users can also snooze emails and attend to them later rather than sit on a heap of unread messages, freeing up clutter.
“We are really interested in thinking about the Inbox as a one place you can come back to, to get everything you need to do. That is less about messaging or personal communications and more about your own personal productivity," explained Gawley, who wants users to “think of Inbox as a personal assistant".
Google’s attempt to reinvent email with Inbox comes at a time when increasing numbers of users are taking their conversations to social networks such as Facebook, or messenger applications such as WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, Viber, or Hike.
Gawley acknowledged the trend but insisted that personal communication still happens via email. “What we are seeing is you just use a broader variety of tools to communicate. And that’s great," he said.
According to Karan Thakkar, senior market analyst at International Data Corporation, “Google has just simplified the user experience, it will surely help those set of users who want to get more organized. With increased consumer activities and interaction email flow is showing an upward trend and the need to prioritize the urgent emails will increase accordingly."
Thakkar, too, believes that email is here to stay since users will “always" want an email account “for important/confidential work".
“For instance, all your banking/financial/travel/legal activities require documentation...would require an email account," said Thakkar.
Even as Google works on building the email of the future with Inbox, it is rolling out product upgrades to Gmail. “One of the things we noticed is people are very attached to Gmail. We all love Gmail. And it is hard to instantly shift to a new way of working," said Gawley.
“That seems to be an appropriate way of introducing the upgraded offering. Some users are receptive to change and force-feeding a new experience might backfire," said Thakkar.
It took Google three years to open Gmail for everyone. So what about Inbox?
Gawley wasn’t willing to commit to a date. For now, his team will listen to user feedback and build new functions. “There’s a lots more cool things coming over the next one year or so. We have been really pleased with the reception that we got and the number of people trying the app," Gawley said, without specifying numbers.
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