Gmail Now Public Beta, Open To All


Google Operating System reports that Google has opened up Gmail for anyone to sign up for a Gmail account. Some history of how getting into Gmail has evolved, below:

When Gmail originally launched on April 1, 2004, it was entirely an invite-only service. You could only get an account if someone you knew already had one and sent you an invitation. At one point, Gmail invites were even selling on eBay for well over $250 a pop.

In the middle of 2005, the system opened more widely, when Google allowed anyone in the US to get an invite by having an invitation code sent via SMS to their mobile phone.

It now appears to be officially a public beta, which means you don’t need a Gmail invite or SMS code to gain access to your own Gmail account. If you want to sign up for a Gmail account, go here.

Postscript: Google Officially Opens Gmail To World, with Google’s statement.



Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.

See more articles by Barry Schwartz >


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2 COMMENTS ON Gmail Now Public Beta, Open To All

David,

….and for any non users I have been using GMail for quite some time it is the best. I use GTalk and have a $15 headset from the Google Store it is faultless

I run my little Internet Marketing business totally with GMail, Docs, Spreadsheets, Checkout and Picasa.

I’ve paid Google for stuff when I can

Everything is wonderful with GMail and I can’t wait to see what happens with Page Creator

Cheers

David
Charlotte. NC

It’s Football Not Soccer!



Lisaweb,

I really liked using GMail until I almost got fired because of it. I was using the pop download, and several of my biggest client’s emails got caught in the GMail spam filter. So I didn’t see them until it was too late. Sadly, there is no way to turn the spam filter off, and have ALL messages delivered. So I had to leave GMail for Yahoo instead.




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