Google Eyes New Email Service, Expansion

GillBates0 writes "According to a CNN/Reuters story, Google is developing a service to attach its lucrative keyword-based advertising to email: ''I'm sure Google is getting more and more concerned about locking in users. It wouldn't surprise me if they did something very sophisticated with e-mail,' said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com, who tracks the industry.' Apparently, Google has purchased an e-mail management software maker and registered the domain name googlemail.com. The article also speculates that Google is slowly on the way to becoming a full-fledged portal, with the gradual addition of more and more portal-like features like Froogle."

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Keep the Look

[Saige]

As far as I am concerned, they can start offering e-mail, or whatever. They can become as much of a portal as they want.

Just don't destroy the simplicity of their search engine's front page by tacking on all sorts of ads and images and text. The bare-bones website they offer up for searches is so much more efficient and, I feel, better for serving the purpose of what Google primarily is - a high quality search engine.

If they start tacking all sorts of crap to it, they'll become just like everyone else, and lose their uniqueness. It'll still be a high quality search engine, but without stand-out packaging.

Wild Speculation

[sithkhan]

Isn't this a perfect time for Google to announce such a common, easily identifible service as this than at this particular juncture? How better to prepare the investing world to sell this upcoming IPO to Main Street Techno-Neophyte Investors than to say that Google is expanding, and that they even have email services ... Plus, think about those eyeballs that will be locked into those browser-based email pages, and all the ad space that comes with them. I am a cynic, but that's just me. I'll still sign up for the service!

Google-powered spam filtering?

[richard_za]

The guys are at Google are so innovative [google.com], I'm sure they could come up with some spam filtering technology. They could leverage info from their USENET archive [google.com] or the web.

Lock

[CGP314]

I'm sure Google is getting more and more concerned about locking in users

It's only a lockin if the users want to leave but can't. Google has a good history with users, I wouldn't expect them to do any less with a mail client.


--
In London? Need a Physics Tutor? [colingregorypalmer.net]

American Weblog in London [colingregorypalmer.net]

less on the actual web serving?

[TheCoop1984]

it seems to me that the more google branches out into these extra services the more the only reason for google's success - the web searching - will be lost and ignored. I really hope google doesnt become like www.yahoo.com, which is simply an eyesore and completely useless as it tries to do too much...

I would like a Journal tab in Google.

[F34nor]

Wouldn't it be great if you could use Google to search full text all the refereed scientific journals?

That would make the internet into what it was made for, free open exchange of scientific work.

A LexusNexus Tab would kick ass to but might be a little pricey.

Re:Froogle

[Thrakkerzog]

why don't you try buying something other than computer hardware or software?

Froogle has much more than computer stuff.

Re:Thus it begins

[grasshoppa]

Exactly my fear.

Google has done it's one thing so well, they should just be happy with it.

If they feel the need to go portal ( and let me just say "#1 fucking retarded idea of the year...but whatever" ), they should launch an entirely different site ( and company, preferrably ).

If they feel the need to do so, add shit like "From the makers of Google!"

Re:Interesting things at google.

[cmacb]

My guess is that they will end up looking a lot like Yahoo. I think Yahoo thinks that too, since they have already announced that they want to go head to head with Google's search technology. Yahoo surely hopes that by the time Google starts registering users they will be able to convince their existing user base that there is no need to register at Google too.

I doubt it will be required to register at Google to continue to use their search. You can do a lot of things with Yahoo without setting up an ID there, it's just that you can't do anything that requires it to remember your settings, preferences, etc.

Re:Portals

[mcc]

My answer to this is

(1) I don't want a portal.
(2) Historically, when search services become portals, their search services suffer as a result, or else try to force you to jump over all their portal "features" to use the search features you came to use.
(3) I have multiple times in the past found myself having to stop using a search engine (for example, altavista) because they just couldn't keep their frigging portal-ness out of my face.

If google added portal features, I'd be OK with that as long as I could just keep using the search and not have to think about their portal. However I just have trouble trust that anyone, even google, could start "being a portal" and yet not have their core service lose focus or otherwise suffer as a result.

Re:Too Good To Be True

[Anonymous Coward]

except that refdesk dont actually have any of their own content, they are just using everyone elses

thanks but iam trying to use the internet to cut out the pathetic middlemen like refdesk with their advert farms

Email was inevitable for Google

[Ars-Fartsica]

Ultimately this is the only long-term sticky application on the web. This is true for Microsoft and Yahoo, who leverage entire networks of services based on the id people initially used to get their email.

What is sad is that most useful email addresses @google.com will be swallowed up within ten minutes of the service going live, so you'll be back to charlie055539833 or cooldude1975 as your userid there too.

Get used to Google losing its agnostic stance after it goes public. Stop thinking of Google as a round-about and more as a parking lot.

Re:Oy.

[larry bagina]

Remember when yahoo! had a useful catalog of sites? Remember when their search/catalog started sucking? remember when they added featres like email, new, stock quotes, chat, etc?

Remember when google had a useful search engine....

Re:Froogle

[chmod000]

Froogle has much more than computer stuff.

Even on the computer stuff page!

Found on the CPU [google.com] page: this link. [clubmac.com]

So what is it really? A pendant PDA?

Looks like Froogle is at the mercy of the sellers when it comes to the content of those links.

Re:Froogle

[lordvdr]

Let me know when they make "!froogle.google.com" Most of the time I want to search for pages that ARE NOT trying to sell me something.

-lv

Prepare to be underhwelmed

[Ars-Fartsica]

What is left in webmail? The best Google can do is offermore default space than Yahoo and Hotmail. This will cost them money - Yahoo currently soaks $19 a year out of anyone wanting more than 4 MB. Maybe they can do filtering better, but I don't see them outdoing spamassassin etc. Ultimately its just another email address. The geek cachet will wear off quick after everyone you despise starts using googlemail.

This Does Not Mean Google Is Becoming A Portal

[reidbold]

Go to google.com, then go to yahoo.com (if you're using a good browser, view them in tabs side by side). You'll notice Google has their search bar prominently in the middle of the page, surrounded by 13 links, 4 of them are for searching, 1 for the news service, 3 setup options. Also, out of the way at the bottom are links to info about the company.

Now look at yahoo, the search bar is at the top (good) but there are probably over 100 links to all of the various parts of yahoo arranged in a, *gasp*, portal like fashion.

It seems obvious that for google, searching remains job 1, while for yahoo, searching competes with the dozen other features they offer.

End of Google?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that just about time Google goes IPO, it will be just a footnote in the history of the internet.

Already, google search results are MUCH WORSE than they were just a few months ago. There is so much fake ranking trickery and strange re-ranking changes on google's part that the results are nearly useless for many searches.

It's a real opening for competing search engines now that Google has taken their eys off the ball and they are wasting money playing with Froogle and news.google.com

These guys are so impressed with themselves that they are going to be very suprised when they have no money left, or worse, they are forced by their IPO backers to start even more foolish online projects -- iTunes powered by Google anyone?

Re:The near future.......?

[Spy Hunter]

The idea of an agent that crawls the net searching for stuff for you is kinda dumb. Google has already done the crawling, and can serve you the results instantly, whenever you want. The biggest problem is *expressing what you're searching for* in terms that a computer can understand. Without a solution to that problem, an intelligent agent can't be any better than a Google search. If that problem is solved, then Google can still serve you results instantly, without any "intelligent agent" crawling the web specifically for you. The intelligence is all in Google's algorithms, and there's no need for any agents.

To me, the whole idea of intelligent agents sounds too much like Clippy. I don't want software giving me suggestions and telling me what I would like. OTOH, software presenting a list of information that might be useful is OK. It's kind of a psychological thing. Amazon.com doesn't have an "intelligent agent" that tells you what products you would like; instead it has a page with a list of things that are similar or related to products you've shopped for. The end result is the same, and the difference is subtle, but I think it's an important psychological one. The computer shouldn't display intelligence and boss you around; instead it should act like a mechanical device that simply responds to input that you give it. Intelligent agents don't allow you to actually do anything you can't do with passive, subservient software. They're just more obnoxious and annoying.

On second thought...

[MissMarvel]

... maybe trying to do more is a bad thing. Diversity breeds excellence. To site the rather colorful discussion on yesterdays thread... Women love to shop. Alas, it is true! Wouldn't it be awful is there was only one manufacturer of women's clothing? Talk about cramping our style!

So Google... stick with what you do best and just keep improving it. It's better to do one thing well than to do several things mediocre.

Re:Froogle

[bhtooefr]

Google was in beta for a really fucking long time. Look at Debian. It's damn stable (not counting the major breach, as that affected ALL distros) because it's been worked on for a VERY long time to move through unstable, then testing, then stable. Not a Debian zealot (god, a Debian workstation seems impossible to get working), but just saying that sometimes stuff turns out better when it ages. Also, Froogle is searching every site with a $ sign. PriceWatch, DealTime, etc., they're just getting price lists from their partners, ready to feed into the engines.

Re:Prepare to be underhwelmed

[Anonymous Coward]

What is left in webmail?

What was left in search before Google started adding features? Until Google took over the market, people thought that search engines were just about finding relevent stuff and seeing a page full of adverts. Google proved that they could build a less advert-laden page, add features such as caching with keyword highlighting, translation, word/pdf conversion, etc, whilst still remaining lucrative.

They've revolutionised news aggregation with their automatic classification and sorting. They are the definitive Usenet archive (mostly thanks to their Deja Vu buyout, but still). They have bought out Blogger and will almost certainly move things forward in that respect.

The question isn't "what can they possibly offer?". The question is "why wouldn't you expect them to excel at this?".

Re:Froogle

[Dominic_Mazzoni]

I don't know about any of you, but "Froogle" hasn't impressed me yet. I am a frequent user of pricewatch and techbargains, and Froogle hasn't even come close to matching these.

That's not what Froogle is for. When you know exactly what you want, and want the best possible price, sites like pricewatch, techbargains, mysimon, epinions, etc. are great for this. When you don't know exactly what you want, or don't know what it's called, or don't know what category it would be in, Froogle is excellent.

More tech-clueless journalism...

[beni1207]

According to the article:

By moving into e-mail -- the Web's most-used program -- Google would open up a huge new market...

Sigh...where to start? How do journalists charged with tech reporting at a major news publication not know the difference between a "program" and an application of a technology, not to mention the difference between the Web and the Internet?

Expand to live

[FreshFunk510]

The problem is that in almost any industry that is constantly changing, you have to be ready to make additions, deletions or shifts in business in order to survive. Sometimes staying in one spot can lead to your death (i.e. in the 80/90s it was companies like DEC).

While I do think Google would be wise to improving to what they do best, the truth is that there are other competitors quickly catching up to search. The prudent business move would be to use their leverage in search and branch out (but avoid from spreading themselves too thin).

Google's offer is no suprise

[gen2002]

To me , The fact that google provides an E-mail service isn't a suprise but a natural step of evulotion as a great search engine.
Most search engines such as Lycos , Yahoo and Excite started offering E-mail service when they reached certain size. Actually I think that it was just before thier IPO . So Google actualy walking in the step of its formers.

Google will soon be The Big Media player

[kallistiblue]

Their NewsAlert feature allows people to get exactly what they want delivered right to their e-mail.

This opens the door for the dream of big media, a targeted list of people that are actively searching for a specific type of information. To make this even sweeter, they don't even pay for their content.

This will be one of the Top Innovations of 2004.
This is HUGE idea.

I hope that this stops Google's talks with the investment banks. I think going public would be a huge mistake. This comes from personal experience. If they go public, I fear they will become another Micro$oft, forced to chase after ever increasing earnings targets.

That is not a good situation to be in.

How do they make money?

[wirelessbuzzers]

It's all well and good to give 20 MB of space, great service, etc with no ads, but... where does the money come from?

If they're not making any money, they'll either have to change their policies or go down in flames.