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GMail Sign-Ups Via Mobile

jm.one writes "In the wake of recent releases releases Google Desktop 2.0 Beta and Google Talk 1.0 Beta, Gmail (known as Google Mail for legal reasons in some areas) is finally open to everyone. Learn more in the Google Blog entry and register at the Gmail website. Please take note that sign-up occurs via mobile phone at the moment, and only U.S. citizens can register for now. Plans to add more countries are on the way."

11 of 427 comments (clear)

  1. Invitations Still Work by under_score · · Score: 5, Informative

    So a person can still get on even if they aren't in the US.

    1. Re:Invitations Still Work by b10m · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or just get them at spoolers like : http://b10m.swal.org/cgi-bin/gmail_invites.cgi

  2. Re:mobile phone? by mzwaterski · · Score: 5, Informative
    From Google's page:

    "You need to receive and enter a special invitation code in order to create an account. Currently, we are only sending these codes as text messages to US mobile phones. So you will need to have a mobile phone with text message capabilities (most phones have this) and the invitation code itself.

    One of the reasons we are offering this new way to sign up for Gmail is to help protect our users and combat abuse. Spam and abuse protection are two things we take very seriously, and our users have been very happy with the small amount of spam they've received in their Gmail accounts. We take many measures to ensure that spammers have a difficult time sending their spam messages, getting these messages delivered, or even obtaining a Gmail account (spammers will often use many different accounts to send spam). Sending invitation codes to mobile phones via SMS is one way to address this, as the number of accounts per phone number can be limited.

    If you want to open an account a different way, you may want to ask a friend with a mobile phone to receive an invitation code for you or to ask someone you know who already has a Gmail account to email you an invitation."

  3. Re:Great! by GauteL · · Score: 5, Informative

    1. Extremely quick
    2. Very simple, unobtrusive interface
    3. Extensive search features
    4. Very large storage space

    For a Webmailsystem from a commercial operator it is extremely good imho.

  4. Re:Not yet, it isn't by Fishstick · · Score: 4, Informative

    don't know about a link on gmail.com (I already have an account so it seems it redirects to google.com/accounts when I try to get to the main page, but

    this link: Create a Google Account - Gmail does show up on that page.

    But yeah, it does still say beta.

    --

    There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
    Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

  5. Re:A New Feature by brajesh · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah! I guess Google added this recently.

    --
    95% of all sigs are made up.
  6. Re:Huh? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nope, they just changed the post, it origionally said Gmail was out of Beta. You see this is the type of confusion editors promote when they make POST PUBLICATION edits without marking that they have done so. If someone had checked the blog and gmail.com before the post was put live, they could have caught it then, but they waited until it was pointed out in the comments, and now you have 5 or 6 comments that are seemingly meaningless because of a silent editorial change.

  7. Re:A New Feature by Spad · · Score: 4, Informative

    Click 'Next Step >>,' and then click 'Send Verification' to complete the process. Gmail will send a verification message to your other email address to confirm that you'd like to add it to your Gmail account. You'll need to click the link in that message, or enter the confirmation code in the 'Accounts' section of your Gmail account, to complete the process. Once you've verified that you'd like to add the address to your account, you can start sending messages using your custom 'From:' address.

  8. Re:Why Google needs a mobile phone number by bhtooefr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, there's a Captcha in there, too.

    So, cell phone number + a Captcha, and then you'll get an SMS with an invite code.

  9. Re:mobile phones? by metalmaniac1759 · · Score: 5, Informative

    RTFA!

    Why use mobile phones? It's a way to help us verify that an account is being created by a real person, and that one person isn't creating thousands of accounts. We want to keep our system as spam-free as possible, and making sure accounts are used by real people is one way to do that.

    Nandz.

  10. you don't need an invite at all by cjasonm · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you sign up for a Google account, it comes with GMail. All you need is a valid email address to confirm with. All this fuss is silly considering that such an easy backdoor exists.

    https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount/