I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Chatting with Phil this morning we noted that a few people in the office have already moved their email from ISP’s to Google.
When you think about what an ISP provides you, the two things that 99% of people use are
- An on ramp to the Internet
ISP email has minimal differentiation. They pretty much all do spam reduction and have a web client. They often don’t allow SMTP relay or an authenticated SMTP service so you often have to change the SMTP server when you change networks when travelling.
The fact that an ISP provides service in your area and has your email is their only stickiness.
GMail’s vastly improved email service (including an authenticated SMTP server so you don’t have to change your settings), with free storage and rich search and now domain hosting will take email off ISP’s. Google can continue to add value by integrating in other services (they already have) like Calendar, Chat, Checkout etc.
This creates a much more fluid relationship with ISP’s. All we need is access. I can readily move to the cheaper service because my email is no longer with the ISP. Xtra should be sweating. This is a threat that erodes value and hard, if not impossible, to arrest.
This strategy is not unlike what MS tried to do with Passport. Google seem to be doing it more incrementally and without fanfare. The release of checkout today is another big step.
Anyhoo, two wishes for GMail so far …
- That I could copy all my email from one account to another
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