Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

GMail Sign-Ups Via Mobile

Posted by Zonk on from the finally dept.

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."

7 of 427 comments (clear)

  1. Not yet, it isn't by GauteL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is still clearly marked "Beta" and no links to registration is found on the gmail.com website.

  2. Google officially evil by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Give Google your phone number to get free email? Whoa, if Microsoft tried this, they'd have a mob with pitchforks and torches descending on Redmond.

  3. no longer compelling? by Dink+Paisy · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The most visible feature of GMail is the extra storage, but with Hotmail, Yahoo and others offering more storage now, will many people who haven't already switched to GMail want to? Acquiring a new email address is a pretty heavy operation, since you have to inform everyone who has the old one (well, everyone that you still want to communicate with via email...) about the new one. I have a Hotmail account, and despite the search features (that most people won't even bother learning about) I didn't switch when I got GMail invites, just because it would be more effort than it is worth.

    My personal opinion is that Google waited to long to release this service to the general public, and they have lost their edge in web mail.

    --

    Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;
    whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.
    --Proverbs 9:7
    1. Re:no longer compelling? by arudloff · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The most visible feature of GMail is the extra storage

      I think it's safe to say that 99.9% of the people who use GMail will tell you it's the interface, not the storage.

  4. Re:Great! by rbarreira · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Quicker than Thunderbird or Outlook?

    Depends on the speed of your computer and internet connection.

    Simpler than Thunderbird or Outlook?

    Sure.

    Better than Thunderbird or Outlook?

    Much better! It's as if you were searching the web with google!

    I already keep every mail that's not spam or duped in the replies, it's not nearly 2TB yet.

    It's not TB, it's GB.

    Plus; it's not backed up! If keeping e-mails is important, don't you think it should be backed up?

    Google employs redundant storage. I've heard that data is stored at least 3.5 times, but I'm not going to search for a source for this right now...

    --

    The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
  5. Re:mobile phone? by jspectre · · Score: 4, Insightful

    shrug. don't like it? don't sign up. not like anyone is forcing you to. i'm sure you can sign up right now for a hotmail account and MS doesn't want your cell phone number.

    --

    abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

  6. Re:mobile phone? by mzwaterski · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It stops robots from signing up thousands of gmail accounts and using them to SPAM. Google couldn't keep up fast enough: think Hotmail and Yahoo before image verification. Google has simply taken it to the next level. This doesn't directly stop SPAM to gmail subscribers, its stops SPAM to all email users in general.

    If you believe that your public phone number is too much information to give google, then just have a friend sign you up. This is an added feature, not an added restriction. Before you couldn't sign up at all, now you can sign up if you have a phone. Doesn't really seem like anything to lose sleep over.