In an usual admission Google says the launch of Gmail, which is being launched as a preview today, has been inspired by a complaint from a Google user who was upset about the poor quality of existing email services.
The new service will automatically organise email according to topic and allow users to search all their email in the same way they search the web. The service also holds out of the promise of eliminating spam.
Unlike other free webmail services, Gmail is built on the idea that users should never have to file or delete a message, or struggle to find an email they have sent or received. This is why as part of the Gmail, Google is giving one gigabyte of free storage space as part of the service.
The gigabyte of space is far more than that offered by rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN. Yahoo!, for instance, offers just four megabytes of free space as part of its free service with a premium 100 megabyte service costing $50 (拢27.15) a year. Hotmail offers just two megabytes free.
Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of product, said: "She [the complaining user] kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them. And when she's not doing that she has to delete email like crazy to stay under the obligatory four megabyte limit. So she asked: 'Can't you people fix this?'."
The idea was taken up and developed by a Google engineer who worked on it as one of his "20% time" projects -- or the day a week that engineers at the search firm work on projects unrelated to their day jobs.
Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president of technology, said: "If a Google user has a problem with email, well so do we. And while developing Gmail was a bit more complicated than we anticipated, we're pleased to be able to offer it to the user who asked for it."
He added: "Gmail solves all of my communication needs. It's fast and easy and has all the storage I need. And I can use it from anywhere. I love it."
The service will initially be tested by what Google describes as a handful of users who will try out features such as the email search, which is built on Google's ever popular search technology. As with the web Gmail allows users to quickly search every email they have ever sent or received.
One of the key benefits of the new systems could be speed. Google says that because users do not need to file messages into folders it will make using it considerably faster and more efficient.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .