Watch Gmail Videos

Gmail, officially Google Mail in Germany and the United Kingdom, is a free Web-based email (webmail), POP3[1] and IMAP[2] e-mail service provided by Google. On April 1, 2004 the product began as an invitation-only beta release. On February 7, 2007 the beta version was opened to the general public.[3] With an initial storage capacity of 1 GB, it drastically increased the standard for free storage.[4]

Gmail currently offers over 6500 MB of free storage (increasing approximately 3.348 MB daily),[5] with an additional 10 GB available for US$20 per year.[6] It has a search-oriented interface and a 'conversation view' similar to an internet forum. Gmail is well-known for its use of the Ajax programming technique in its design,[7] and has tens of millions of users.[8][9]

The service currently provides more than 6500 MB of free storage[10] and paid additional storage from 10 GB (US$20/year) up to 400 GB (US$500/year), shared over Picasa Web Albums and Gmail.[11] The increase from 1 GB was announced on April 1, 2005 and was made for the first anniversary of Gmail. The announcement was accompanied by a statement that Google would "keep giving people more space forever."[12] All Google says about this now is that it will keep increasing storage by the second as long as they have enough space on their servers. On 12 October 2007, Google ramped up the storage counter[13] to 5.37 MB per hour. Approximately a week later, the counter went back down to 1.12 MB per hour. From 4 January 2008, the counter went back up to about 3.35 MB per day.