Google have (rather quietly) introduced IMAP support to their GMail service, in addition to the basic POP support they were previously providing for accessing GMail outside of Google's web-interface.
We've been writing about the superiority of IMAP as a mail access protocol (especially in the mobile space) for some time and its nice to see Google now offering IMAP. It's even nicer to see that Google have included in their IMAP support some elements of the IETF's LEMONADE SMTP and IMAP extensions for mobile email that Isode have been involved in both specifying and promoting.
The ability to access from multiple devices may well make IMAP the preferred protocol for a lot of GMail account holders (I know it will for me) so it'll be interesting to see how Google monetize an access mechanism which, at the moment and unlike the web interface, does not allow for the delivery of Google content ads.
As we've previously noted, IMAP is the best and logical delivery mechanism for mobile email and far superior to proprietary systems (especially when the LEMONADE extensions are taken into account) and I suspect that the appearance of IMAP access, at a time when rumors continue to swirl around the industry of an upcoming 'gPhone', is no coincidence.
The gPhone, which is evidently being built for Google by handset manufacturer HTC is rumored to be an advert supported device so presumably the IMAP email client that ships with the phone will include a mechanism to deliver content-targeted adverts with the mail.
It remains to be seen if the gPhone will allow users to receive email from non-GMail accounts. I suspect that it won't and that instead Google will expect users to route their other email accounts through GMail in order to access them on their gPhone.
This 'routing' facility is something that GMail has had virtually since launch, with Google trying to push GMail as a way of managing all email accounts via one service. I can't imagine that traditional email service providers are going to be terribly happy with this development which will both damage their brand (by moving the end-user away from direct contact with it) and weaken their financial relationship with customers, who might well begin to wonder if there's any reason not to adopt Google as their main mail service provider.
Those email service providers do have a way of fighting back however, by implementing their own 'all in one gateway' service using products like Isode's M-Box POP/IMAP Gateway product.
