2004 founded Standing
email · gmail.com
Gmail
the moat is real
22 years 141 days and counting
1 Apr 2004, and people thought the invite was an April Fool. It was not.
Why it lasted
- A gigabyte of free storage in 2004 was a weapon. Search-as-the-model still is.
- It is the identity for Android, YouTube, Docs, and a billion 'sign in with Google' buttons.
- The invite era made it status. Status became default.
Times it almost ended
- Inbox by Gmail was the rewrite. Killing Inbox in 2019 trained users that the old Gmail is the product Google will not touch.
- Privacy years and the ad-scanning story. People stayed. Switching email is death.
What would finish it
- A phone OS identity that is not Google, plus a generation that lives in chat and treats email like fax. Fax still exists too.
Questions
Is Gmail still up?
Yes, with a Standing verdict: the moat is real. Founded 2004.
How long has Gmail been around?
Gmail has been up since 2004-04-01.
Why did Gmail survive?
A gigabyte of free storage in 2004 was a weapon. Search-as-the-model still is.
Could Gmail still die?
A phone OS identity that is not Google, plus a generation that lives in chat and treats email like fax. Fax still exists too.