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Gmail now the world's largest email service

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Jun 2012 11:55 User comments (10)

Gmail now the world's largest email service Google has announced today that their Gmail email service is now the largest in the world.
The service has surpassed long-time rival Hotmail, and now has over 425 million monthly active users.

Yahoo Mail used to be the market leader, but has since lost its luster. A year ago, Hotmail announced it had reached 360 million unique users per month, after 15 years. Google launched Gmail, as an invite-only service, in 2004.

Google has seen large growth in the past few months alone, moving from 350 million monthly active users in January to 425 million now.

comScore, however, had a different tale to tell, claiming Google is still in third. The analytics company claims Hotmail is in first with 325 million uniques, Yahoo in second with 298 million and Gmail in third at 289 million uniques.

The analytics company did note, however, that it did not include smartphone, tablet or Internet cafe usage.

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10 user comments

129.6.2012 13:07

A lot of that growth can be contributed to android. I have an email account for all three. I use my hotmail account the least and my gmail account is my main because it is great at blocking spam.

229.6.2012 13:12

I've got tons if accounts for all three...never even check the non-gmail accounts anymore. ComScore is clearly not even trying if they didn't bother to account for mobiles, with the exception of work email accounts, everyone I know uses their phone for email. It is like saying Mazda is the most used car on earth, but only checking the racetracks, not the streets.

329.6.2012 13:24

One of the big reasons G-Mail has gotten so "big" is because of YouTube. You MUST have a G-Mail account to have a YouTube channel. I didn't want one but was forced into one by "GoogTube".

429.6.2012 17:13

good stuff google ;)

530.6.2012 02:38

Originally posted by Steel-Ice:
A lot of that growth can be contributed to android. I have an email account for all three. I use my hotmail account the least and my gmail account is my main because it is great at blocking spam.
I was going to say the exact same thing........attribute this behemoth to Android that mandates a Gmail account for any practical use. Otherwise........Gmail users are just a bunch of lemmings all jumping off the same cliff; especially those that anxiously awaited early adoption availability.

Personally......I don't feel any "cooler" for having one and never use anyway except when my Android device needs it.

630.6.2012 04:47

lots of sites require a gmail account not just youtube.im still using hotmail got my account from about 1998 and another one on hotmail i use.

730.6.2012 13:06

Gmail isn't "cool"...but it works very well. The spam filter is wonderful and the security is about as solid as you could ask for in a free service.

82.7.2012 00:23

I keep getting email 3 days late.... I checked my email everyday and when I check it today, it says I got the email 3 days ago but it wasn't in my inbox til today.... this the 5th time it's happened.

92.7.2012 15:54

Actually you need a Gmail account for EVERYTHING Google. These numbers are further inflated, because web developers (such as myself) are limited to 25 websites monitored via Google Analytics, so each time I go over 25, I need yet another Gmail account that I'll never use for anything else.

109.7.2012 12:51

Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by Steel-Ice:
A lot of that growth can be contributed to android. I have an email account for all three. I use my hotmail account the least and my gmail account is my main because it is great at blocking spam.
I was going to say the exact same thing........attribute this behemoth to Android that mandates a Gmail account for any practical use. Otherwise........Gmail users are just a bunch of lemmings all jumping off the same cliff; especially those that anxiously awaited early adoption availability.

Personally......I don't feel any "cooler" for having one and never use anyway except when my Android device needs it.
You could also say the same thing about Apple (Lemmings that is).

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