Google this morning released a downloadable application for Java-enabled mobile devices to improve the experience of reading Gmail on non-smartphones (it does work on certain smartphones). Gmail is already available via mobile phone, but this improves the user experience. Here’s the release.
I spoke to Google but haven’t tried it yet. However one of the highlights is that it resizes attachments for viewing, which wasn’t previously possible. And here’s a tidbit, which is arguably the most interesting part of the release:
Google and Sprint announced that Gmail for mobile devices can also be easily downloaded directly from the Sprint PCS VisionSM or Sprint Power VisionSM home page. Google and Sprint worked closely to ensure that Gmail is only a few clicks away for Sprint customers.
(Here’s the related Sprint release.)
The Sprint partnership seems to fly in the face of all the “carriers are scared of Google and Yahoo!” speculation.
Now Google doesn’t really market anything, but this it would seem to me is a big opportunity to generate more Gmail accounts. Gmail generally lags among the portals in terms of user adoption (Yahoo! is number one), although it’s the newest web mail in the market, save Live Mail. Google understands the opportunity here. And given the announcement with Sprint, it would seem that there’s a particular opportunity to get Sprint users to sign up for Gmail so they could take advantage of this new and improved user experience.
Yahoo! Mail was the number one mobile site in July according to Telephia. And of the top 10, three were email (the others were AOL and Hotmail). Clearly mobile email access is in important use case and, in my opinion, a “leverage point” for other mobile applications. Which is why those with an email relationship with a user have an advantage or head start in mobile.
And, it goes without saying, those who ultimately have an established relationship with an end user can capture mobile local search usage and serve ads against it. . .
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Related: Om Malik has a lengthy, positive review of the app. And here’s a similarly long review from MobileCrunch.
Screenwerk 
November 23, 2006 at 9:58 pm
I am using it for 5 days now and I can tell you that it’s fabulous. It is fast, good looking and reliable app. But one problem: if you have another account on Hotmail or Yahoo mail you must install another app. At a moment I am using Movamail http://movamail.com/ with my all accounts (incl. Gmail) an soon enough I will be able to tell you witch is faster, and more cheaper.