It appears that the 11-year-old Google service, Gmail that has won over more than 900 million users, could be nearing its end. Lately, when you go to Gmail.com, you get a notification telling you that Google is experimenting with a new ‘Inbox By Gmail’ service.
Image Credit: Computer World
A service, Google hopes will finally replace the traditional Gmail as we have come to know it. When you log in to your Gmail account, a pop-up appears that reads “Thanks for trying Inbox! To make it easier, we’ve updated Gmail to redirect you here.”
For the past 14 months, Google has been working on an alternative standalone email service ‘Inbox’, which has been available at inbox.google.com. But it now appears that Google is pushing for Inbox to be the default email service when you visit the usual the usual gmail.com. However, Google is not forcing Inbox down your throat, should you not like the experience on Inbox, you can always revert to the good old Gmail. By selecting ‘Turn it Off’ under the options menu.
Users who have been using Inbox all along when Google was still experimenting and fine tuning the platform, say they have often been migrated to the new service when they opt to use the standard Gmail platform. Few months back, Google also began notifying a small number of users about using Inbox. It would now appear that Google is ready to roll out Inbox on a bigger scale to more users.
With the possible end of Gmail, what are the features to look forward to on Inbox?
Industry experts hold the view that Inbox has a much deeper trawling of user data. That allows it to offer users a much wider range of intelligent automated features, such as smart recognition of images, reminders, and tickets among others.
All these intelligent automated features are in line with Google’s ambition of advancing its machine learning program. But as much as Google is not trying to force Inbox down users’ throats, it is certainly making it known that Inbox is no longer the standalone, experimental platform-on-the-side for early adopters users. All indications point towards the direction of Inbox having been fine-tuned and ready to replace the traditional Google mail platform.