I think it was the threat of a Gmail revolution that prompted Yahoo to increase the storage space parceled to its free email accounts last year. (Yahoos paid email at the time, of course, gave storage to spare. Its an example of how the whiff of corporate competition can benefit end users or consumers.) Who remembers rummaging through our Yahoo email accounts deleting emails only weeks, if not days, old? I think Yahoo copied their color coded warning system of diminishing storage space from the easy-to-comprehend terror levels issued by the federal government. Gmails arrival, though, changed this we were ready for something better. Its search-based organization, something we like to see at ConductSearch.com, figured to be a natural step for email world to take.
I believe that something better came, too. But, something that Im unlikely to avail myself to because I, like most, am not ready to forego the free, web-based email I am comfortable with for Gmails blessings.
Gmail, like Google, was marketed beautifully from the outset. How did they manufacture buzz? By attaching a sense of exclusivity to a Gmail address, thats how. Thats no small feat...