Google announces GMail via this press release dated April 1. Webmail with 1GB of free storage, plus great search (as you would expect). So… is it real?
I’m asking because Simon Willison’s post ranges from excitement about the idea of the service, but then points out that Google has a sense of humor about these things (PigeonRank, anyone?). If they were ever going to pull this kind of prank, this April — perhaps their last before they go public? — would be the time. And everyone is expecting a webmail service from Google anyway, as part of an effort to provide another platform for their advertising and a reason for people to register with Google, giving them further insight into their immense user base.
If it’s a hoax, it fooled:
- John Markoff of the New York Times
- Paul Festa of CNET News.com
- Amit Asaravala of Wired News
- Jefferson Graham of USA Today
- and over 343 publications, per Google News, are ‘related’
I guess we’ll all see tomorrow. Google gets so much publicity for free already… imagine all the follow-up articles every publication will have to run if this is a joke?
Check GMail.com on April 1.