Google removes Gmail's invitations-only restrictions in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Brazil

After nearly three years since it first launched, Google Inc.'s email service, popularly known as Gmail, is almost ready to accept everyone.

So far, only invitees were given Gmail accounts. When the service first launched, the invitations sold for as much $100 on eBay.

The online search leader surprised the Internet community when it came out with a huge amount of free storage alongside ads that correlate with email.

As of Wednesday, Google got rid of the invitation only policy for Gmail service in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Brazil.

Last year, the service launched in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and Egypt.

Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne said restrictions to the service by way of invitations, will be lifted soon in North America, Asia and most parts of South America.

Gmail became widely popular for its initial 1 gigabyte free storage for each account. Now it has 2.6 gigabytes of free storage, after rivals Yahoo and Microsoft began to offer more e-mail storage as well.

However, the service has raised concerns about privacy - it scans email messages to provide relevant ads to go with the correspondence.

On Google's Gmail website, a statement said that some of the dialogue regarding Gmail's privacy is inaccurate: "Since we first launched Gmail in April 2004, there has been some discussion, including in the media and in legislative corridors, about Gmail and privacy. Google takes privacy very seriously. We are very upfront about our policies and we welcome a discussion of user experience and public policy as it relates to the Internet, email, and our services."

The statement continues, "Gmail does not represent a compromise or invasion of anyone's privacy. We built Gmail to be the best and most useful webmail service in the world. A free service for anyone who wants it. And we built it with users' privacy in mind."

Although Gmail is far behind email services offered by Yahoo and Microsoft, Google has been in the media limelight for some time - this alone is bound to get Gmail more ads and lots of cool-factor.

(Published by BizReport, February 9, 2007)